Hold On
by Percabeth12-7
Summary: Annabeth forces Percy to let her go, which leaves her to fall in Tartarus alone. An alternative take to HoH and its aftermath, if only Percy had not gone to Tartarus and up with the rest of the crew instead of in Tartarus with Annabeth. NOTE: the first couple of chapters, of course, are basically the book. It takes a while for the story to change because of Percy. Credit to Riordan
1. Prologue

**Hi! I'm back! It's been _years_! I'm headed off to college now! Crazy, right? Anyways, while I can't write the other stories (sorry, but they're just so cringy for me to read), I thought I'd write a new one! I hope you guys like it! Please leave reviews! - N x**

* * *

It was worse than it had ever been. I thought a couple years ago was bad—I thought that rock bottom was bad. This was below rock bottom. This was way, way below rock bottom.

I ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind me, covering my mouth as my shoulders shook, struggling to contain the sobs that threatened to pop out of my throat. My head pounded, trying to hold in an ocean's worth of tears.

"Open the door," Percy begged on the other side. "Annabeth, please, open the door."

I could barely see myself in the mirror, only a shape of me. A shape of who I am, or who I was. Looking at myself past the tears, it seemed like I could almost be the same person, but it didn't feel like I was.

My face was what made Misery miserable. My arms were what made monsters choke on their own blood. My shape was right, but everything that made that shape just wasn't.

My legs ached and gave out from under me. My voice pushed and pushed against the mental barrier I had placed in my throat, begging to get out, begging to scream and make a sound. My head pounded, trying to fight every single part of me that begged to fall apart and break apart.

_Keep it together. Nobody needs this right now. This is not helpful. Keep it together._

My hands clenched into fists on either side of me, almost trying to root my arms into the floor. Keep me down. Keep me here.

My legs stretched and stretched until they hit the wall and pushed against it.

_Get me out, get me out, get me out._

I wanted to jump out of my body—my body didn't feel like it could fit me in it. It felt like my skin was stretching and stretching and barely keeping itself together at the seams while every part of me tried to spill out of it.

And then finally, a scream.

My mouth opened and my mind wasn't enough to stop the flood of air that flowed through my vocal cords.

I once read you could hold 4 liters of air in your body. You don't really know what that means until you're screaming and screaming, and you just keep _going. _You'd think you had run out of breath by now, that there wasn't enough air to push out anymore, but there is. There's _so much_.

I didn't notice how the door slamming open competed with my own scream. I didn't notice the arms wrapping around me. It was only when my screams turned into hopeless sobs that my arms wrapped around him too. They wrapped around him.

"We're okay. We're together and we're okay," he said softly, a contrast to my loud sobs.

His hands rested on my back and mine on his. As my sobs subsided into fast, fast breaths, I could barely feel his heartbeat.

"Breathe, Wise Girl. Can you do that for me?" He asked. "Try to breathe like me, okay?"

He took a deep breath, and I tried to, too. My breath, unlike his smooth one, was raggedy with all its interruptions. He did this with me several times, and with repetition, I was able to breathe smoothly too.

I could feel his heartbeat with my hands, thumping and thumping. So present. So real.

"I'm sorry," I told him, knowing that it couldn't have been easy. It couldn't have been easy for him to be stuck up here without me. It couldn't have been easy for him to have seen me fall. It couldn't have been easy for him to see me like this, to break down the door.

"It's fine," he assured me. Maybe to him it was, but to me it wasn't.

Still, "Thank you," I answered. Maybe it wasn't fine to me, but he was right about one thing: we were okay. We were together. For now, that's all that mattered. _That's all that mattered_.

"Thank _you_," he replied.

I didn't know what he was thanking me for. I hadn't done anything to help him. I've been stuck here.

"For staying alive," he told me, as if he could tell what I was thinking. I didn't say anything. I just held him. I held him tighter.


	2. Chapter 1

_Looking up, she saw grappling lines shoot from the Argo II and wrap around the statue. One lassoed Athena's neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from the helm as Jason and Frank flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them. Nico had just reached the ladder when a sharp pain shot up Annabeth's bad leg._

* * *

**ANNABETH**

Get to the ship, my body told me before the pain could become so unbearable I'd be unable to move. I stumbled to the ship.

"What is it?" Percy asked. For the mean time, I ignored it. Get to the ship, get to the ship.

I felt like I was on a treadmill. My legs forced me forward, but I wasn't moving forward. A jolt of panic and adrenaline came over me as I tried to move faster towards the ship, but I wasn't moving.

Before I could even begin to question it, my legs swept out from under me and I fell. My arms weren't quick enough to try and catch me.

"Her ankle!" Hazel's voice sounded muffled as I tried to hear through the pain. "Cut it! Cut it!"

I furrowed my eyebrows—I couldn't have heard her right. Cut my ankle?

I looked to Percy, who didn't understand what Hazel had said either. Then something yanked me backwards, dragging me toward the pit. I yelped and tried to hold onto the ground and climb it to stop me from moving back, but it wasn't working. Once Percy's arm grabbed mine, I held onto him, hoping it would be enough for me to stop being pulled.

Apparently not.

The momentum carried him along with me.

"Help them!" Hazel yelled.

Nico was hobbling in our direction, and Hazel was trying to disentangle her sword from the rope ladder. The others were too focused on the statue. I doubted they could even hear her.

I sobbed as I hit the edge of the pit and my legs went over the side. I realized what had happened. I was tangled in the spider silk.

I should have cut it away the minute I could. I should have told Percy to cut it when I had the chance. This should have never happened if I had just listened to myself when I wanted to cut it. I thought it was just loose silk, but with the entire floor covered in it, I hadn't noticed that one strand was wrapped around my foot, and its end led into the pit. Something heavy had fallen into the pit, and whatever it was was pulling me down with it.

The adrenaline I had felt was starting to subside at the worst possible time. My body ached, begging for me to relax and rest, and before I could fight it, I had slipped over the edge.

My body slammed into something, and my shoulder screamed at the abrupt stop. I looked around and I saw that I was dangling over the void, with nothing but Percy keeping me up. Percy, who seemed to struggling keeping himself up as well, held onto a ledge fifteen feet below the top of the chasm.

I had read quite a bit about blackholes, and how if you would ever be sucked into one, you'd probably feel like you were being stretched as you were going through it. I couldn't help but compare this to what I read. Percy was pulling me up by keeping a grip on my wrist, and whatever was falling into the pit was pulling me down by the ankle.

No escape, said a voice in the darkness below. I go to Tartarus, and you will come too.

I could have sword I heard it in Arachne's voice, but I wasn't sure if it was actually her or if it was just me.

The pit shook, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the situation at hand. I could see Nico reaching towards us, but he was just too far away. I could hear Hazel yelling for the others, but I doubt they would be able to help now.

The pull from my leg got stronger and stronger, and it took almost everything in me to keep from screaming.

Whatever voice I heard, real or not, was right. There wasn't escaping this. I was too far down to be saved. Percy needed to let go of me to reach Nico. It wasn't too late for him. The group didn't need to lose him too. Just me.

"Percy," I pleaded, looking up at him. I could see him trying so hard not to let me go. I wouldn't be surprised if the pain I felt in my ankle was the same pain he felt in his shoulder. "Let me go." It wasn't too late for him. He could still be saved. "You can't pull me up. Please just let me go."

I could see in his eyes that he agreed. He couldn't pull me up.

"Never," he replied, and I knew it wasn't because he thought he could save me. I had to think, and I had to think. I had to make him let me go before he was going to do what I was thinking he was gonna do, or before he realized what I was going to do.

"Nico!" I screamed, surprising Percy. "Nico, you have to go to the other side, okay? Promise me you'll do that." I said. I looked at Nico, who nodded. I knew he could hear me. I just hoped he could hear what I'd say next. I looked at Percy. "And-and promise me that you won't let Seaweed Brain here do something stupid!"

"What?" Percy asked. I let go of his wrist and twisted my arm around it. I pinched the back of his wrist between my fingernails, forcing his reflexes to let go of me. As soon as his grip loosened, I let go.

And I fell.

I could see Jason, coming to the rescue and helping Percy up. I could see Percy struggle and fight to follow me. But I decided to focus on the sunlight above me. I didn't know when I'd see it again, or if I would ever see it again, and a part of me found contentment as I bathed in it. The light.

A small smile found its way to my face as relief washed over me. I didn't feel any pain. While I hated not knowing happiness, I knew one thing was for sure.

Percy was safe.

I saved him.

And that was enough.


	3. Chapter 2

**LEO**

I couldn't believe what happened.

Everything was just such a blue. We had secured the grapping lines the the Athena Parthenos just as the floor had given way and webbing snapped. Jason and Frank had gone to save Percy and Annabeth, but when he came back up, he only saw a very angry Percy, struggling to get out of Jason's grip and into the pit. He was screaming, something about how they couldn't be separated again, shifting from anger to desperation when it came to getting into the pit.

The pit was quickly buried under several tons of debris, and I pulled the Argo II out of the cavern seconds before the entire place fell apart. Now, we were parked on a hill, overlooking the city. In the time it took to get here, Piper had used charmspeak to get Percy to sleep. It was the only way to keep him in the Argo II while we left.

Hazel, Frank, and Jason had all gone back to the parking lot to try and dig a way out for Annabeth, but they came back hopeless. They didn't need to say that they couldn't find one—you could see it just by the look on their faces. They said that the whole cavern was gone and that there were way too many police officers and rescue workers to really take the time to look around.

The overall atmosphere in the ship was filled with grief and sadness. I could practically hear Annabeth nagging them and saying that the only thing to do now was to continue the quest. She'd be pissed if everyone just moped around for her instead of staying focused.

The others and I carefully loaded the Athena Parthenos in the hold, and I had told Coach Hedge to prepare for departure instead of continuing to beat himself up.

I had hoped to keep everyone busy. Not to forget, but to just keep their minds off it for a while. I rested his hand on the Archimedes sphere, and that's when I knew I just couldn't do it.

I should have been happy, but I had lost too much for it.

"It's my fault," I said, my heart weighing as much as the fallen parking lot.

"No," Hazel's voice broke through to him. "No, this is Gaea's fault. It has nothing to do with you."

As much as I wanted to believe that, I couldn't.

Hazel seemed to want to argue, but before he could, we heard the door open abruptly, capturing all our attention.

"Annabeth," Percy said. "Whe-where is she?"

Nobody wanted to say anything. It was a mixture of both not being wanting to be the messenger and not wanting to say it aloud. Saying it made it too real.

"Percy," Piper began softly. "Frank, Hazel, and Jason all went back to try and find her, but…" Piper couldn't seem to find the end to the sentence. Percy looked at Jason, who stood up and walked to him.

"We tried, we really did," he began, his voice raspy. "But the whole cavern seemed to have disappeared. The whole place was flooded with people. We couldn't find her." Jason's eyes met Percy's, and that seemed to be enough. "She's gone."

I expected Percy to freak out again, like he did earlier, but there was an awful stillness to him. His eyes seemed so empty as he registered what had happened.

"But she's not dead," Nico said, now calling the attention to him. He leaned against his black sword. "I'd be able to feel it if she was. She isn't dead, Percy."

Percy seemed to be at odds with himself, both trying to comfort himself with this while not trying to think what everybody else had to be thinking.

Nobody was sure if she could make it to the Doors of Death.

"Annabeth made me promise to get you guys there, so we should go. I bet she's planning on meeting us there. If we can survive the House of Hades, fight our way through Gaea's forces, then maybe we can work with her to seal the Doors of Death from both sides."

"And get her back safely?" Percy asked.

"Maybe."

I didn't like the way Nico answered that, like he knew something that the others didn't. I knew a bit about locks and doors, and I wasn't sure how she could seal the door without staying in the Underworld. I don't doubt that that was exactly what Nico was thinking, too.

"I don't know how she'll manage it, but she's Annabeth. If anybody can think of a plan to do it, then she can," Nico answered. Percy nodded in agreement, but seemed to be deep in thought about the whole ordeal too.

"It won't be easy," Percy warned. "Gaea will do anything to keep us from sealing the doors. Then again, what else is new?"

"We've got no choice. We have to seal the doors before the giants can raise Gaea. Otherwise, her armies will never die," Piper said. "We've got to hurry, too. The Romansare in New York. Soon, they'll be marching on the camp."

"We've got one month at best," Jason said. "Ephialtes said Gaea would awaken in exactly one month."

"We can do it," I said, getting everybody's attention. "The Archimedes sphere can upgrade the ship, and I'll study those ancient scrolls we got. There's got to be all kinds of new weapons I can make. We'll hit Gaea's armies with a whole new kind of hurt."

Festus creaked his jaw and blew fire defiantly, seeming to agree.

Jason managed a smile and clapped me on the shoulder. "Sounds like a plan, Admiral. Want to set the course?"

I knew they were kidding, but I accepted the title this time. It was my ship, and I hadn't come this far just to be stopped. So help me, I would do anything I can to find the House of Hades, get to the Doors, and get Annabeth out of Tartarus.

I looked outside, taking in the view one last time. "Yeah. Festus, raise the sails. We've got a friend to save."


	4. Chapter 3

**ANNABETH**

I thought of Hesoid as I fell. He was this old Greek poet who thought that it would take nine days to fall from earth to Tartarus.

I hoped to the gods he was wrong. Ever since I had let go of Percy, I lost track of time. I had been falling and falling and falling even more. It was lonely.

I couldn't see anything. Just darkness. The cavern had closed, getting rid of the warm sunlight that had given me some comfort in the beginning. Now I had only the sound of the wind and the darkness.

Well, that and the increasing temperature, which told her that she would have to land soon, right? That is, if there was even something to land on.

A part of me wondered if I was already dead and that this was some sort of eternal punishment for doing gods know what. Falling for an eternity sounded like some sort of punishment that the gods would give. It was terribly frustrating. I wished for some sort of stimulant to tell me that there would be a change. That I wasn't just stuck here, falling endlessly. Well, a stimulant that wasn't just the rise in temperature.

My ankle was throbbing, but I couldn't tell if it was still wrapped in the spiderwebs that pulled me here in the first place—not that it mattered now anyways.

I huffed as I thought about it. It was all really Arachne's fault. Despite being trapped in her own webbing, getting smashed by a car, and plunged into the depths of Tartarus, she still managed to get her revenge. She's determined, I'll give her that.

I didn't know if she was still alive. If she was, I was hoping to all the gods that I wouldn't meet her once I landed—assuming I would land, of course. Well, assuming I would land and _live_.

I could feel a tear escape my eye as my heart ached at the whole ordeal. I never expected my life to be easy—most demigods didn't live long and happy lives. I never expected to be any different, but, still, it wasn't fair. It wasn't reasonable for me to be upset at this, but I was. I expected something terrible. Greek heroes didn't exactly get happy endings—their lives just screamed irony and tragedy. _Tragedy_ which was invented by the greeks themselves.

Still, it hurt. It wasn't fair. Just after I got the statue—just when I succeeded—just when I had been reunited with Percy—just when things were _just_ starting to get better, this happens.

Even the gods couldn't give a punishment worse.

I was reminded of Tantalus, from who the word _tantalizing_ comes from. Tantalus was the son of Zeus and an Oceanid named Pluto. He was favored by many of the gods and often dined with them on Mount Olympus. However, he committed a number of crimes against the gods—the last of which being that he killed his own son and then served him to the gods at a dinner party.

Zeus punished Tantalus to an eternity of lack and desperation in Tartarus (I wonder if I'll run into him). Tantalus was made to stand in a pool of clean, cool water with a fruit tree nearby, with the branches full of delicious fruit. It's said that the water retreats whenever he tries to take a drink and that the fruits would always be _just_ out of his grasp.

That being said, Gaea wasn't like the gods. She was older, much more vicious, and much more blood thirsty. I bet she _loved_ this.

I sighed, pressing my hand to my beating heart and closing my eyes. I thought of a pair of sea green eyes and jet black hair. A lopsided smile that was enough to make me smile myself.

"I love you," I whispered. I knew he couldn't hear me—it was impossible—but it was for my own sanity. If I was going to die, I would want those to be my last words. Though he couldn't hear me, I knew that he had to know. Some part of him just had to.

It takes twelve seconds for a person to reach terminal velocity when falling at low altitude, so I should have reached terminal velocity eons ago. If I land at terminal velocity, I'd die. That is, if Hesiod was right about it being nine days. It sure felt like nine days, but who could say for sure? Time goes by slower when you're _not_ having fun.

I felt something whip me, causing me to hiss.

Then I felt it again, and again, and again.

I opened my eyes and saw a number of webs spaced apart, each web causing me to slow down more and more before I hit the ground. I could barely keep my eyes long enough to see the webs before I would be forced to close them to keep the webs from hitting my eyes.

_Wait_, I thought, _if there are webs—intact webs—then that must mean—_

I wasn't able to finish the thought as the cold shocked the air out of me.

I felt like I had been turned to stone, like one of Medusa's victims. I was sinking and—and falling. Down, down, down into the cold, cold water.

_Why struggle?_ A voice popped into my head. _You're going to die anyways. You can't possibly make it out of here alive. You'll never leave this place._

It would be easier.

I could just close my eyes and just stop. I could just keep falling and sinking.

I could just—

_No_.

My eyes opened. I couldn't see much, but I knew I needed to swim. Up, up, _up_.

_I can't die. I need to seal the Doors. It's not about me._

I'll need to stay. I'll probably need to stay here forever. So, yeah, I'll most probably die. The odds were against me. But the others need me. Percy needs me.

I can't die yet.

My head broke through the water and I gasped. The air flooded into my lungs, and each cell in my body sung in rejoice.

This was a river. It had to be a river. Rivers meant land somewhere.

I swam perpendicular to the current, to the side, kicking and kicking, fighting against every single voice that told me to stop. The whole world needed me to keep swimming. Percy needed me to keep swimming.

_It's all pointless. You're born. You suffer. You die. For what? For nothing._ The voices went on and on, lamenting about the pointlessness of life and the pain it brings. I had to fight against it.

Percy pictured our life together. He pictured a future where we lived, where we'd work out. I wanted that future. I wanted a happy ending and—by the gods—I was going to get it.

I hauled myself onto the shore, shivering before my knees buckled, making me fall onto the black sand. I tried to sit, but I hissed in pain. The land wasn't made of sand—it was broken, jagged glass.

I felt like crying. I felt like sobbing and screaming and falling apart and just laying down and giving up. I didn't wanna do it. Everything here was ready to kill me.

The air stunk. It smelled like acid. The water was literally _misery_. The ground was made of sharp, broken glass. Everything here was made to hurt and kill me. I'd give myself an hour, tops.

I sighed and stood up, forcing myself to get myself together. To _think_, not feel. There was time for feeling later.

My backpack was gone, along with Daedalus' laptop. My dagger was missing, which killed me, but I couldn't cry about that now. I had no food, no water, nothing.

So, all in all, it was a _great_ day.

The black glass beach stretched about fifty years then dropped off the edge of a cliff. I couldn't see what was below it, but I could see that the edge flickered with red light.

I remembered something about Tartarus and fire, but I couldn't quite remember what—

I had fallen into webs.

I remembered. Before I had fallen into the River Cocytus, I had fallen into webs, which could only have meant that Arachne was still alive.

Not only was she alive, but that she was already here, and that she wanted _me_ to stay alive.

I looked around, looking for anything watching me, but I couldn't see anything. It was surprisingly quiet for it being Tartarus—home of monsters.

I took that to be a bad thing. For now, though, it was what was keeping me alive. Arachne wanted me alive for gods know what, and had to be doing something to keep the area around me undisturbed. She must be planning some sort of revenge for me.

And here I was, weaponless.

I tore a strip of my shirt and used it to wrap around the black glass under me. I pulled as hard as I could until I fell back, landing on more, sharp, black glass. I groaned as I got up again.

I looked at my hand, which now held a sizeable shard of glass with a strip of cloth acting as a handle for it. This'll have to do, for now. I shivered, trying harder and harder to ignore the cold, despite the hot and humid air. Holding the makeshift glass dagger in one hand, I rubbed my other hand up and down my forearm to create friction, which only made me stop and hiss in pain. It stung.

I looked down at my hand and realized it had still been bleeding from when I climbed out of the Cocytus—a fact that was a complete oddity to me. It should have healed by now—

Tartarus was killing me—literally killing me. That was what I was remembering.

I needed to get to Phlegethon.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying so far! I don't know if I'll be update tomorrow, since I have a busy day, but I'll try! Next chapter is going to be Percy's POV (fun!). Hope you guys are enjoying so far! Please leave a review! It'll inspire me! ****\- N x**

* * *

**ANNABETH**

The River of Fire (AKA Phlegethon) is used to punish the wicked, but, in some legends, it was considered the River of Healing. It keeps the wicked in one piece so that they can endure their punishments and—sure, _some_ isn't reassuring, but it's the best we have.

The flickering I had seen earlier _had_ been coming from a fire. In fact, it had been coming from the fire I just needed the most—Phlegethon.

I still felt cold, but standing so close to the fire made my skin feel raw and burnt. The longer I stayed, my lungs seemed to be able to take in less and less air—like it was filling up with sand, which also made me feel much heavier than I would have liked. The makeshift cast I had on my foot seemed to have gotten off me during the fall or when I was in Cocytus, which only made my foot feel worse.

Assuming I could make it down to the river, which didn't seem very likely at the moment, I would have to _drink_ it, which I was even _more_ unsure of.

I had two ways to get down, that I could think of. One was to walk in either direction and hope there was a place where the land beside the river and the land on the cliff met, or to climb down. The first offered no certainty that we'd get there in time, if at all, so she was left with the second.

I used my makeshift dagger to tear another piece of my shirt.

_At this rate, I'll have a short crop top by the time I get out_, I thought, _that is, if I get out._

I put the handle of my dagger in my mouth as I struggled to wrap the fabric around my bloody hands and climb down the ledge.

My fingers shook, both because of how weak they were from exhaustion and because of the sheer amount of blood that coated them.

My arms began to get blistered as I climbed down, and the sweat stung my eyes and made my clothes stick to my back. My hands trembled the more I climbed, and my knees were beginning to shake. Each time I had to use my bad ankle, I bit down more on my dagger, trying not to scream.

Finally, I landed.

I staggered over the glass ledges and around the boulders, careful not to slip on anything. When I arrived on the river bank, I placed my dagger beside me and dipped my fingers into it.

It felt like I was holding onto ice, which meant it was probably so hot it was overwhelming my nerves. I couldn't think of it so much now, I just needed to _drink_.

On the plus side, if I ever get out of this, I doubt spicy food would affect me much anymore.

It tasted the way you would expect fire to taste—meaning it didn't _taste_ like anything at all. It just burnt like hell. My eyes widened as I drank it, boiling hot tears falling out of them. It felt like fire came out of my ears and nose. I fell back, holding onto the broken glass for dear life, as I shook. The fire seemed to have activated every neuron of my body and sent energy through each one, forcing my body to convulse.

And then it didn't.

I took several deep breaths as I sat back up, my back against the fire. I looked at my hands and arms, which seemed to be healing.

I took my dagger from the ground.

Now that I was healed, I needed to think.

I looked up the cliff I had just climbed down. I couldn't climb up it even if I wanted to—I didn't have enough energy. That, and it would likely be safer to stay by the Phlegethon. It was the Underworld's version of ambrosia, after all. If anything happened to me, it would be safe to be near something that could heal me quickly. Well, _relatively_ quickly.

I needed to get to the Doors of Death—not just for me, but for everyone else, too. I needed to close it from this side, otherwise Gaea's army would overrun the world. The doors would probably be in the center of it all, which tempted me to go downstream, toward, what I assumed, would be the center of Tartarus. Toward, what I assumed, would be more dangerous territory. That meant I probably needed to get better weapons, too.

I looked around again for any sign of Arachne. She made me land in the Cocytus safely with her webs, which made me wonder about what exactly she could want with me. I had a feeling that she was keeping me safe for now, but I didn't know what for. If I knew why, I could likely avoid doing what would make her want to kill me so she could keep the peace a while longer.

I never thought I'd be thankful that Arachne has some twisted revenge plan for me, but right now, it was working in my favor.

I began walking downstream.

* * *

I had only traveled a few hundred yards when I heard voices, but I didn't quite register them for a few seconds.

My body was working almost on autopilot. I had no energy, and no water and food to change the fact I had no energy. Being alone in Tartarus, I doubted I could sleep, either. Being hungry, thirsty, _and_ alone in Tartarus, I doubt I even _should_ sleep. I was hoping to find water soon.

I remember reading that the body could only last without water for three days, but I assumed that wasn't the case here. If I had fallen for nine days, I should have been dead by now. Phlegethon may have also cured my dehydration for a while, too—not that it made me any less thirsty. It just kept me going.

My eyes weighed about a hundred drachmas from exhaustion when I heard the voices—the voices of girls arguing.

I hid behind a boulder, wedging myself so close to Phlegethon, my shoes almost touched the river's fire. In front of the boulder, voices snarled, getting louder and louder as they approached from upstream.

This was likely one of the few moments I was grateful for Percy's absence, which makes me sound like a terrible girlfriend in more ways than one. While it felt lonely and frightening to be here alone, I shouldn't wish Percy was here at all, but I did. It was selfish, but a part of me really wanted him here. Still, I knew I did the right thing by letting him go.

This was one of the moments that I knew if for certain.

Monsters could smell demigods, especially powerful ones like Percy. If he were here, a boulder surely wouldn't be enough to hide him. For me, however, a combination of the boulder and the rancid air, I was sure it would mask my scent enough.

"Soon?" one of them asked in a raspy voice.

"Oh my gods!" said another voice. This one sounded younger and more human, but I doubted it would be safe to go check. She sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on who she was. "You guys are _totally _annoying! I told you, it's like three _days_ from here."

What's three days from here?

There was a chorus of grumbling and complaining. Probably half a dozen of them just passed on the other side of the boulder, but none of them had indicated that they'd caught my scent.

"I wonder," said a third voice, resembling the first voice, "if perhaps you do not know the way, young one."

"Oh, shut your fang hole, Serephone," said the teenage girl. "When's the last time _you_ escaped to the mortal world? I was there a couple years ago. I know the way! Besides _I_ understand what we're facing up there? You don't have a clue!"

"The Earth Mother did not make you boss!" shrieked a fourth voice.

I could hear more hissing, scuffing, and feral moans. It sounded like street cats that were fighting on the sidewalk.

"Enough!" yelled Serephone. "We will follow for now. But if you do _not_ lead us well, if we find that you have _lied_ about the summons of Gaea—"

"I don't lie!" snapped the teenage girl. "Believe me, I've got good reason to get into this battle. I have some enemies to devour, and you'll feast on the blood of heroes. Just leave one special morsel for me—the one named Percy Jackson."

I snarled, keeping a tight grip on my glass dagger. I took the quietest deep breaths I could. It wouldn't be smart to fight them with this kind of weapon. It would probably kill me.

"Believe me," said the teenage girl. "Gaea has called us, and we're going to have _so_ much fun. Before this war is over, mortals and demigods will tremble at the sound of my name—Kelli!"

My eyes widened to the size of saucers. I recognized the name. Kelli was an Empousa—a vampire. Two years ago, he and Rachel Dare had been attacked by them disguised as cheerleaders. One of them had been Kelli. Later, the same Empousa attacked them in Daedalus's workship. Annabeth had stabbed her in the back and… sent her here… to Tartarus.

Brilliant.

The Empousai shuffled off, and their voices got fainter. I glanced at them.

Five Empousai with mismatched legs—one of mechanical bronze and another shaggy and cloven-hooved on the right. Their hair was made of fire and they had pale, white skin. Most of them wore tattered Ancient Greek dresses, but Kelli wore her cheerleader's outfit.

My jaw clenched. I faced a bunch of monsters throughout the years, but Empousai were one of my least favourite.

They had a tendency to manipulate the Mist. They could shapeshift and charmspeak, tricking mortals into letting down their guards—especially men. A popular tactic they used to kill was to make a guy fall in love with her and then eat him.

Kelli had almost killed Percy _and_ manipulated Luke into committing dark deeds in the name of Kronos.

_Gods, I wish I had a better weapon_.

I sighed.

As much as I hated it, they seemed like the best way out. Kelli was talking about going to the mortal world—which could have only meant the Doors of Death. If I wanted a quick, 3-day trip out, this was the way to do it.


	6. Chapter 5

**PERCY**

I should have checked her leg. I was right beside her with Riptide, and I should have checked her leg.

Annabeth had started stumbling on her way to the Argo II, panic flooding her eyes.

"What is it?" I asked. I should have just looked at her leg. There were cobwebs everywhere, there was bound be be a string around her leg. I should have broken it off.

Annabeth wasn't moving forward. She was trying to make her way to the ship, but she wasn't moving. I should have helped her forward. I should have broken the webs. I would have done it any other time, but not now.

Annabeth fell and was yanked back. I could barely hear Hazel over the panic that flooded my body.

"Her ankle!" Hazel screamed. "Cut it! Cut it!"

Annabeth was going towards the pit. She was going to fall. I lunged for her and caught her wrist. Riptide dangled just out of reach. If I wanted to get Riptide, I'd have to let go of Annabeth—and no way was that happening.

My body trembled, struggling to pull her up. Whatever was connected to the other end of the web was heavy and had started falling into Tartarus. I couldn't reach Riptide to cut it off her now. I couldn't hand Riptide to her and ask her to cut it.

"My sword…" I grunted, a futile attempt to ask for someone to hand it to me. I doubted they could hear me over the collapsing cavern and Hazel's yelling.

Annabeth grew limp for a moment and whatever pulled her down pulled hard enough for me to lose my footing on the ground.

We had started falling together.

I saw a ledge and I grabbed it and Annabeth sobbed. I was close to sobbing, too; it felt like a personal tug of war battle between me and Gaea, with Annabeth as the rope. It wasn't fair. She just needed to get a hold of the ledge with me. I just needed to pull her high enough so that she could.

It sounded so easy. It should have been so easy.

I couldn't lose her to _this_. I helped her from the spiders in Hephaestus's trap when we were twelve. I helped her escape from the sirens when we were thirteen. I helped her lift the _sky_ when we were fourteen. In Mount St Helens, I helped her escape to safety, even if that meant I couldn't make it to camp. I helped her up another ledge after a bridge crumbled on the way to Mount Olympus. I couldn't lose her to this.

We've just found some sort of peace. How could I lose her to this?

"Percy," her voice broke. I looked down at her.

Annabeth was the one in with the answers. She's saved me a bunch of times with her plans. I just needed to do the same for her. I needed to think of a way to pull her up. I just needed to cut the web from her foot.

She looked at me, hopeless. My strong, determined Annabeth couldn't think of a way out of this.

"Let me go," she said. I would have sighed, if I could. "You can't pull me up. Please just let me go." She was right. I couldn't pull her up.

But that didn't mean I couldn't go down with her.

"Never," I answered, looking up. I was going to tell Nico to lead them to the doors, that we'll meet them there. We wouldn't be separated again.

"Nico!" Annabeth yelled, shocking me out of my thoughts. "Nico, you have to go to the other side, okay? Promise me you'll do that."

I almost smiled. It was like she read my mind.

"And-and—" she looked at me. "Promise me that you won't let Seaweed Brain here do something stupid!"

I thought we were on the same page, but we weren't.

"What?"

Before I could register what was happening, I felt a sharp pain in my arm, forcing my hand to let go of her.

Annabeth fell.

"_NO!_"

I had my hand around her. I was holding her. I was going to let go. We were supposed to go down together.

Before I could let go too, Jason pulled me up. It didn't matter that I was screaming, trying to make my way to the pit, to fling myself off, to catch up to her, to follow her.

I needed her.

"Piper!" Jason screamed, struggling to keep me from the pit.

I don't remember much. I just remember going to sleep.

Now we were on our way to the Doors.

According to Nico, Annabeth was still alive. I kept believing that she had to be. She was going to meet us at the doors. She was going to be fine. If anybody could survive Tartarus, it would be her. We were going to save her. She was going to get out just fine.

"Percy, can you do that?" Hazel asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Can you help us sail through the southern tip of Italy? I think it might be the only way."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Nico answered.

"Why not?" I asked. Nico's eyes locked with mine, and I could see the gears turning in his head to find something to say.

"It's a long way. It'll take much longer, and we need to get to the doors as soon as possible," he said.

"But if it's our only way—"

"It can't be," Nico answered. "Annabeth needs us to get there as fast as we can." His voice trailed off.

The name hung in the air, forcing a dense silence to come through. Nobody dared to speak through it.

Hazel took a deep breath. "What about continuing north?" She asked. "There _has_ to be a break in the mountains somewhere or something."

Leo fiddled with the Archimedes sphere to pull up a 3D map. "I don't know," he said with a sigh. "I don't see any good passes north, _but_ I like that idea better than backtracking south. I'm done with Rome."

_You and me both._

"Whatever we do, we have to get there quickly. Every day that Annabeth's in Tartarus…" Nico trailed off. He didn't need to end the sentence.

We had to hope that she'd survive to get to the Doors and that we'd get there when she does to help her out as fast as we could. That was all still a maybe. Then, after that, we'd have to seal the doors to make sure Gaea's army doesn't come through.

"Maybe we should wake the others," Nico said. "It does concern them, too—"

"No," Hazel replied adamantly. "We'll find a solution." I rose an eyebrow at her in confusion and her eyes locked with mine.

"You're right," I agreed. If we woke everyone up, they'd start bickering. Not to mention, they needed their sleep. We wouldn't get anywhere any faster with them awake.

Annabeth would kill me if I let us waste time by bickering.

"We need some creative thinking. Another way to cross those mountains, or a way to hide ourselves from the _numina_," Hazel said, now looking at Nico, who sighed.

"If I was on my own, I could shadow-travel. But that won't work for an entire ship." Nico shrugged. "And, honestly, I'm not sure I can even shadow-travel _myself _anymore."

"Maybe I could rig some kind of camouflage," Leo suggested, though not seeming very hopeful on his idea. "Like a smoke screen to hide us in the clouds."

I wish I could do more, but I didn't know what else I could do. The only thing I could do isn't a viable option.

I'm not useful here. I should be with Annabeth. I should help her through Tartarus.

"Arion," Hazel said through the silence.

"What?" Nico asked.

Leo looked out where Hazel was looking. A smile broke out onto his face. "It's her horse, man! You missed that whole part. We haven't seen him since Kansas!"

Hazel laughed. "I need to meet him. He's here to help."

"Yeah, okay." Leo scratched his head. "But, uh, we talked about not landing the ship on the ground anymore, remember? You know, with Gaea wanting to destroy us and all."

"Just get me close and I'll use the rope ladder," Hazel told him, already running off. Leo got into position to bring Hazel to Arion.

This was a good thing. This meant that we were going to head somewhere. That there was a solution.

"Percy," Nico's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Percy, you have to sleep."

"I'm fine," I answered.

"No, you're not." I looked at him. "And it's okay not to be, but you need your rest."

"Not until—"

"That may not be for days or weeks, Percy, you know that," Nico reasoned. "Annabeth needs you to stay sane and healthy. You need to do that for her, Percy—"

"Annabeth needed me to fall with her," I answered. "Annabeth needed me to pull her out of the pit, but clearly, that didn't happen—"

"Percy—"

"Look where we are, Nico!" I exclaimed. "We can't even find a way to Greece to try and help her! What am I supposed to do? Sleep and do nothing? Just wait? You said it yourself, she needs to get out of there as fast as possible or gods know what'll happen to her!"

"Well, you can't help if you're going insane!" Nico said. "Percy, gods know what'll happen to your powers if you go and lose your mind. You need to sleep and stay healthy, not just for you and Annabeth, but for everybody on this ship."

I took a deep breath as thoughts ran through my mind, wondering about what I could do to help.

"Annabeth made me promise that you wouldn't do anything stupid, and I'm keeping it. You need to go and get some rest. We'll call you when we need you or when we get some news," Nico assured me.

"Thank you, Nico," I answered after a silence, my voice raspy.

"Yeah, don't mention it. Just go sleep."


	7. Chapter 6

**Okay guys, I hope you like what's going on so far! Leave me a review to tell me what you think! If you remember House of Hades, Annabeth is very reliant on Percy to help her fight, especially in this scene because of Bob the Titan. So, what do you think will happen now that he's not there? - N x**

* * *

**PERCY**

I didn't know if she was okay. I didn't know if she landed or if she was still falling. I didn't know if there were monsters all around her and she was constantly fighting and hiding, or if she found a safe place to stay for a while. I could believe whatever I wanted to believe, but not knowing if it was true was the hardest part.

What would I do if she wasn't okay? If we got there and she wasn't there? Would we wait? Would we seal the doors, not knowing if she was dead or if she was alive and still making her way there? Nobody wanted to think about it, much less say it, but these were questions that had to have been lingering in our minds.

If I was there, I would know. I could help her and keep her safe, or maybe we'd die together, but at least we'd be _together_. She shouldn't be down there all alone.

Every time I closed my eyes, I just saw her. I saw her looking at me with glassy eyes and the smallest smile on her face as she fell. What was she thinking? What was going through her mind when she made me let her go?

This must've been what it felt like the eight months we were apart. I was in Camp Jupiter, and she was going around, searching for me, not knowing if I was dead or alive. She just kept looking, not knowing.

_I remember her dagger landing into the sea, and I sent a wave. I stood on the shore, dagger in hand. "You dropped this."_

_Annabeth's face relaxed as a wide grin broke out on her face. She ran towards me and wrapped me in her arms. "I love you!"_

She told me she loved me.

I didn't say anything at the time. It wasn't the right time. We were in the middle of what looked like the beginnings of a civil war. That, and I thought she likely didn't know she had even said it—that is was just a heat of the moment thing.

But she told me she loved me.

That day, she went off by herself to find our friends while fighting her way through a battle field and searching for a map. To say I was worried out of my mind was an understatement.

But if she got through that, she could get through this.

That was just training for this, right?

It had to be.

I had to believe she'd be fine. I'd have to believe it because she couldn't die without me saying it back.

"Percy?" Leo called.

"Yeah?"

Leo walked into the room. He looked at me from head to toe then chuckled. "You didn't sleep at _all_, did you?"

I sat up and shrugged. "At least I could say I tried."

"Yeah, well, Hazel's back. She says that there's a secret northern pass, but we're going to have to make a detour to get to Epirus," Leo informed me.

"Great, thanks," I said.

"Don't mention it." Leo shrugged and began walking out.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?" Leo turned.

"It's not your fault, you know." I had noticed Leo had been angrier since Annabeth had fallen. I think even a blind man would be able to see it. The way that he would glare at the Archimedes sphere and beat himself up. The way he tried to stay as busy as possible.

"It's not yours, either," Leo answered. "You did everything you could."

"I'll try to believe that," I said with a shrug. It was the best I could offer right now. "We should go as fast as we can."

Leo grinned. "Don't worry. Gaea's not gonna know what hit her."

* * *

Annabeth was in an open field, which unsettled me. She had to have known that staying in an open field wasn't safe—especially when that open field happened to be in Tartarus. Annabeth seemed to look around, paranoia running rampant across her features.

I couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. Her skin was covered in dried blood and dirt, and her clothes and hair in soot. Her normally bouncy, curly hair seemed matted and stiff. Her grey eyes searched around her desperately as her hand clenched onto something. I couldn't see what, but it was probably her dagger.

She didn't have her backpack—she didn't have anything on her except the clothes on her back and whatever she could carry.

She was walking on top of black, broken glass, following something, but I couldn't tell what. I couldn't tell much except what I could tell about Annabeth.

Her legs were wobbly, and she was still limping. Her lips were chapped. They looked like they haven't moved since she fell and started to turn into stone. She bit the inside of her cheek, and her shoulders moved up and down too much to tell me that whatever breath she took was laboured. Her hand moved to run up and down her forearm, as if to comfort her and say that everything was going to be fine, but the panic in her eyes seemed to disagree.

Then she stopped moving, like something had jerked her into position.

She looked around frantically.

"No, no, no," I could hear her whisper to herself.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice said. Annabeth got into position to attack. I was finally able to see her weapon. It wasn't her dagger—it was a small shard of glass. Probably just 5 inches long. Five empousai had surrounded her. "If it isn't Annabeth Chase. Where's your boyfriend? If you're here, he should be here somewhere, right?" Kelli looked around.

I could see Annabeth physically resist flinching at the mention of me. Instead, she tightened her grip around the glass.

I remembered how dangerous Kelli was the last time we saw her despite her mismatched legs. If it hadn't been for Annabeth, she would have eaten my face off. And now she has four friends.

"What's the matter, Daughter of Athena? Don't have your weapon? Bummer. I was planning to use it to kill you."

"Tell you what, I'm willing to compromise," Annabeth said, gears turning in her head. "Find it, and I'll kill _you_ instead. We could have a whole reenactment of last time."

"Last time?" An empousa snarled. Annabeth looked around, almost confused, like the empousai weren't what she was expecting.

"Oh, she didn't say?" Annabeth asked, getting back to the problem at hand. "Last time she was up there, things didn't go as planned. See, she was in charge of keeping my friend Luke Cartellan faithful to Kronos. That didn't go so well, did it, Kelli? In the end, Luke rejected Kronos and gave his like to expel him. The Titans lost because Kelli _failed_. Now Kelli wants to lead you to another disaster."

The four other Empousai muttered and shifted uneasily.

"Enough!" Kelli's fingernails grew into long black talons. She glared at Annabeth. "The girl lies. So the Titans lost. Fine! That was a pard of the plan to wake Gaea! Now the Earth Mother and her giants will destroy the mortal world, and we will _totally_ feast on demigods!"

The other Empousai snarled.

"The demigods united!" Annabeth yelled. Her voice had the slightest shake, which wouldn't be noticeable to anybody who wasn't looking for it. "You'd better think twice before you attack us. Romans and Greeks will fight you together. You don't stand a chance!"

I could tell there was still something in the back of her mind. It was like she was stalling, more than trying to escape, but it didn't look like she knew exactly what she was stalling for.

"Bold talk for a demigod stuck in Tartarus," Kelli said. The Empousai began to close in around Annabeth.

"Wait!" She tried again. "Aren't Empousai the servants of Hecate?"

"So?" Kelli asked.

"Well, Hecate's on _our_ side now," Annabeth said. "She has a cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Some of her demigod children are my friends. If you fight me, she'll be angry."

The other Empousai snarled at Kelli's direction, asking for confirmation and saying they wouldn't want to cross Hecate.

"You should follow Serephone," Annabeth said. "She's older and wiser."

"Yes!" The one called Serephone squealed. "Follow me!"

Kelli pounced, and Annabeth didn't have a chance to react. Thankfully, she attacked Serephone, and not Annabeth. But just as quick as it started, it ended. Kelli stood victorious over dust.

"Enough!" She yelled. "I stand with the side that brings us the most demigod blood, and that is Gaea! So I stand by Gaea!"

The other Empousai hissed in agreement.

Annabeth seemed to have all the colour drain from her face as the Empousai surrounded her. Kelli smiled.

"For two years, I churned in the void," Kelli said. "Do you know how completely _annoying_ it is to be vaporized, Annabeth Chase? Slowly re-forming, fully conscious, in searing pain for months and years as your body regrows, then finally breaking the crust of this hellish place and clawing your way back to daylight? All because some _little girl_ stabbed you in the back?" Kelli and Annabeth's eyes locked on each other, and they seemed to have been fighting a silent war. "I wonder what happens if a demigod is killed in Tartarus. I doubt it's ever happened before. Let's find out."

Kelli launched herself at Annabeth, but before I could see what happened next, I bolted up.

The view of Tartarus had abruptly change to the view of my quarters in the Argo II.


	8. Chapter 7

**ANNABETH**

Had I had a better weapon and more energy, I may have been able to stand a chance. But as I looked at the four furies hissing at me and the dust left by the other, I didn't think I had any chance at all.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my heartbeat. Panic began to flood my system, but panicking wouldn't help me out of this situation. I needed to stay calm and rational to think a way out of this.

An Empousa pounced on me. I dodged out of the way, directing the Empousa to my left to bump into another one. Behind me, Kelli grabbed a hold of my shoulder and I flipped my glass dagger and plunged it into her stomach, keeping a grip on it as I kicked her back.

Another Empousa jumped to attack me on my right, but I ducked, allowing it to fly over me and land on the glassy ground, allowing the shards to scratch her as she slid. I turned to face Kelli, who was now recovering from my attack, but one of the two Empousai earlier had grabbed my arm and kicked my back, forcing me to fall forwards. Mustering as much strength as I could, I flipped her over me as I fell, both of us landing on the glass.

Kelli made her way toward me, and I realized that in the midst of the fight, I lost my glass dagger. I took a handful of gravel and threw it at her face before another Empousa had taken a hold of my forearms, so I couldn't continue.

I struggled to escape out of her grasp. On the plus side, the Empousa below me seemed subdued enough for me not to worry about her.

Kelli chuckled bitterly, wiping the gravel from her face.

I kept trying to get out of the Empousa's grip, but it seemed to me that it wasn't going to happen. My heart beating in my chest and my chest heaving up and down from my laboured breaths, I desperately looked around for any kind of help.

_Help._

I remembered. Years ago, Percy had told me about a Titan he had blasted with water from the River Lethe. What was his name? Steve? John?

"Bob," I muttered.

His name was _Bob_!

"Bob!" I yelled, to the confusion of Kelli and the other Empousa.

_Silence._

I was sure I was doomed.

"What's wrong, Annabeth Chase?" Kelli teased. "Trying to—"

A shadow had fallen across where I had been standing, and a deep war cry echoed from above, nearly shaking the ground I had been kneeling on.

_Stomp_.

I thought I had lost every bit of my sanity.

It wasn't that I was unhappy to see a giant, silvery figure stomp on Kelli—it was just unexpected.

Apparently, the Empousa holding onto me thought so too.

Her grip on me had loosened, allowing me to escape from it. Moving as fast as I could, I took a shard of glass from the ground and threw it at her. It lodged itself in her neck, prompting her to fall back into the ground.

I looked up at the giant figure that had helped me. He seemed to be a Titan with silver hair and eyes in a janitor's uniform. I dug back in my memory, recalling Percy saying something about a kind Titan in the underworld.

That being said, I had never _met_ said Titan.

"Hell—Hello," I croaked out. The janitor knelt beside me, causing me to flinch. _He's friendly_, I reminded myself.

I hoped.

"Ouchie," the Titan frowned. He tapped the wounds left by the empousa that held me by my arms, and they had miraculously healed. He grinned. "All better!"

"You—you must be Bob," I said.

"Yes!" He cheered. "Yes, that is me! I am Bob! I am helping! I heard my name being called by someone I didn't know, but no command to clean, so I came! I saw you fighting, and I thought maybe you called. People don't normally call unless there's something to clean. Bob, sweep up these bones. Bob, mop up these tortured souls. Bob, a zombie exploded in the dining room."

_I should ask Percy about that_.

"And then I heard you call! And I thought: _adventure_! Bob gets to go on an adventure!"

"I—"

"Oh, time to talk later," Bob said, his smile quickly dissipating. "We must go. They are coming. They are watching."

"They?" I asked, before reminding myself of Arachne. "Do you mean Arachne?" I whispered, but Bob didn't answer.

"Bob knows a way," Bob said, ignoring my question. "Come on, friend! We will have fun! We will go on an adventure!"

Bob started walking. While a part of me told me to walk the other way, I figured that he was my only chance out of here alive. I clearly needed some sort of companion or ally here, especially while I didn't have a proper weapon.

Or, at this point, no weapon at all. Following Bob was the best chance I had, so I did.

Meanwhile, while walking, I made a mental note to thank Percy for splashing the Titan with water from the River Lethe. Even a world apart, he was still saving me.

* * *

"So," I began, hoping to start a conversation. "How did you get to Tartarus, Bob?"

"I jumped!"

It took my brain a moment to process what he had said. He just decided to _jump_ into _Tartarus_ because… Because what? I'd understand if it had been Percy—at least he _knew_ Percy—but I'm just a stranger to him.

"You jumped," I said, uncertainty coating my voice. "Because I called?"

"Yep!"

_Okay then_.

"It's okay though. I was tired of sweeping the palace. Come along! We are almost at a rest stop!" He told me, walking a little faster. Which, unfortunately, meant that I was now moving in that odd mix between a jog and a walk.

It's hard to keep in line with a 10 foot Titan, okay?

As I walked, it felt like my stomach was burning with all the acid just sloshing around in it with nothing to break down. My mouth watered at the thought of food, despite my lips being so dry from a lack of water. Wherever Bob was taking me, I hoped that it had water and food.

_As if_.

I didn't think that there were worse rest stops than the ones that Thalia, Luke and I would pass by when we were homeless and then I went here. At least those terrible rest stops had food and water. It may not have been good food, but there was _food_, you know?

Wow. I never thought I'd think of when I was homeless as one of the good ol' days just for having resources to fulfil our basic needs.

A chuckle escaped my lips, leaving me so shocked that my hand had flown to my mouth. I pressed my lips into a thin line, trying not to laugh at the whole ordeal. It wouldn't be smart.

Now, walking and suppressing giggles, I was wondering if my brain was being overwhelmed by so many emotions that it resulted to hysteria. That would definitely be something the gods would be surprised about—a daughter of Athena at wit's end that can't stop laughing at everything tragic.

Dismissing the thoughts, I kept my focus on Bob as he led me toward this "rest stop." His janitor's uniform were ripped between his shoulder blades, as if someone had tried to stab him. Cleaning rags stuck out of his pocket. A squirt bottle swung from his belt, and the blue liquid it contained swayed with each step Bob took.

I remembered more about how Percy had met Bob, and I felt my heart sink. They had left Bob in the Underworld to be taken care of now that he was no longer a threat. Persephone promised he would be taken care of. Now, looking at him, I felt like I was looking at some sort of slave. He was obviously being mistreated, and the only thing he seemed to be allowed to do was clean.

No wonder he jumped in here the second I called.

_He's not your friend_, my mind reminded, shooing away the sinking feeling in my heart. I still had to be careful. Who knows what Tartarus—the place monsters go to regenerate—might do to his memory. I should be ready, just in case he remembers his old identity and turns against me.

_Maybe he did that ages ago and he's just leading you to your doom_, another voice in my head said. I sighed, hoping it would fly away with my breath. I couldn't be paranoid about Bob right now—I was paranoid enough about every sound I'd hear in the place. If I gave myself another thing to panic about, I had no doubt I would go insane—if I already hadn't. Right now, all I knew was that Bob was helping me. That's all I had to worry about for now. Other concerns can be dealt with later.

_Like Arachne_.

It seems that my initial thought of her protecting me was false—she seemed to offer no help with the Empousai, if that was her initial plan at all. Still, I knew that she wanted me alive long enough to see Tartarus. It was only a matter of _when_ she'll attack.

I had heard conflicting descriptions of Tartarus—from it being a bottomless pit, to a fortress surrounded by brass walls, to an inverse of the sky. The latter seemed the most accurate, but the more I walked, the more I was convinced that wasn't it.

The ground I walked on seemed like skin, with monsters forming in little pockets (or zits) in it. We had passed one of the "zits" earlier. Inside of it was the tiny half-formed body of a drakon. Bob had speared it without a second thought. It burst in a geyser of steaming yellow slime and he just kept walking.

The more I thought about it, the more I wished I would stop thinking about it. Now I wasn't only paranoid about Arachne, Bob, or the threat of monsters jumping out of nowhere and attacking, but the possibility that what I was talking on was another monster.

_It was better than feeling._

"Here," Bob said as he abruptly came to a stop, causing me to nearly trip over my own feet.

We stopped at the top of a ridge. Below them, in a sheltered depression like a moon crater, stood a ring of broken black marble columns surrounding a dark stone altar.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Hermes' shrine," he answered. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I didn't expect there to be a shrine of _any_ god in Tartarus. Seeing my confusion, Bob decided to elaborate. "It fell from somewhere long ago. Maybe the mortal world. Maybe Olympus. Anyways, monsters steer clear." I nodded. "Mostly."

While I would have preferred the statement without the last word, I figured it was the best we would get in Tartarus.

"How did you know it was here?" I asked.

Bob's smile faded and the life in his silver eyes seemed to vanish. "Can't remember."

_Right_.

Before Bob was Bob, he had been Iapetus. Like all other Titans, he'd been imprisoned here for eons, so of _course_ he knew the place like the back of his hand.

My heard skipped a beat as I came to my next realization: if he remembered _that_, what else could he remember?

Not wanting to continue that train of thought, I climbed into the crater and entered the circle of columns. As soon as my foot hit the marble, I collapsed, too tired to take another step.

"You—" I said, in between breaths. _Finally_, my lungs screamed, _space to breathe_. "Earlier, you said that 'they are watching.' Who's _they_?" I asked.

"They are watching, yes. They know you are here. Giants and Titans. The defeated ones. They know," Bob answered.

_Brilliant_, I thought to myself. Dealing with each Giant and Titan with Percy throughout the years seemed impossible—and that was with Percy _and_ one monster at a time. Now, I don't have the luxury of either.

"Why are we stopping, then?" I asked, getting ready to stand, but my legs groaned with each movement, feeling like they had been filled with sand. "We should keep moving."

"Soon," Bob assured me. "But mortals need rest. Good place here. Best place for…oh, long, long way. I will guard you."

I bit my lips into a line. Being with a Titan was unnerving enough, but _trusting_ that Titan to keep me safe while I rested?

I wished I wasn't so alone. At least then I could come up with a better arrangement.

Still, Bob was right. Mortals _needed_ rest. My entire body felt like it was ready to come apart if I took another step, let alone a couple thousand more. A lack of rest could also be detrimental to your health—mentally and physically. It was bad enough that I had a bad leg and virtually no weapon. I needed to take care of my body as much as I could. It was my best bet out of here alive.

"Okay," I surrendered. Every muscle in my body seemed to rejoice at my mind's submission. "Okay."

"When you wake up, food should be here!" Bob told me, a smile on his face. I couldn't help the smile that appeared on mine.

But as quickly as the smile on my face broke out, it was replaced with a heavy feeling in my chest. My neck felt clogged up and my head started to ache. I was so tired, and so hungry. I didn't know if this feeling of just wanting to cry was coming from being here, being separated from Percy _again_, or being tired and hungry, or relief at the mention of food.

I dismissed each of those concerns. I couldn't cry right now. I needed to stay focused on the problem at hand. I just needed to stay alive and get to the doors.

"Thank you, Bob," I said. I never thought that I had felt such conviction in my words as much as I did in that moment. I never thought I could in this situation, but I did. Bob saved my life and, on top of that, brought me to a place where I could rest and recuperate—a place I would have likely never run into without him.

Bob smiled, but he didn't say anything. He just kept watch.

I curled up on the marble floor—which, in that moment, I found more comfortable than any bed I had ever slept on in my life—and I slept.


	9. Chapter 8

**LEO**

I designed the mess hall's walls to show real-time scenes from Camp Half-Blood. It seemed like a great idea at the time, so we wouldn't feel so disconnected from our home and family, but now it seemed like the worst idea I could have ever had.

The scenes from back home—the campfire sing-alongs, dinners at the pavilion, volleyball games outside the Big House—just seemed to make my friends sad. Everything that used to make us feel more at home, make us feel comforted and less alone, just made us feel worse. The farther away we got from Long Island, the worse it got. The timezones kept changing, which made me _feel_ the distance every time I looked at the walls. When the sun's up here, the sun's down there. It made me feel _disconnected_ from my family instead of more connected. It made me homesick.

It would have been fourth of July yesterday. We'd missed the annual party at the beach with the cool fireworks my siblings prepared in Cabin Nine. I decided not to mention that to the crew, but I hoped that my friends had had a good celebration. They needed something to keep their spirits up, too.

I wish I could turn off the wall videos.

"So," Jason said, "now that we're here…"

"Where's Percy?" I asked, looking around. Jason's eyes caught Nico's and they seemed to have a telepathic conversation. "Guys, come on, so he's a little upset. He's entitled to it. He was the one holding onto her, remember? Not to mention everything else. He deserves to be here."

"It's not that," Jason said, gulping. His lips pressed into a thin line and he seemed to be at odds with himself as he struggled to find the words to answer Piper.

"He just had a rough night," Nico answered for him, causing Jason to shoot him a grateful smile. "He needs to rest."

"What happened?" I asked as my eyebrows furrowed. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's—he's fine," Jason answered. _Mostly_, he seemed to say silently as he shrugged.

"And Annabeth?" I asked.

Everyone's eyes seemed to drop to the floor, and I kicked myself for asking, but that seemed to be what Jason and Nico weren't saying.

"She's fine," Nico answered after a long silence. "But we have to get to the Doors as fast as we can. She needs us—"

"Sorry, for being late," Percy said, now finding a seat at the table. I couldn't help but notice how puffy and red his eyes seemed, especially with the dark circles under them.

"No problem. We were just starting," Jason asked. Percy nodded at Jason, who shrugged in response.

I was starting to wish I had been up to see what exactly happened.

I would be lying if I had said that I didn't think Percy would be the one to try and act as the group's leader, especially since he knew Annabeth the best and knew her the longest. Annabeth was closer to Percy than anybody else on the ship, and understandably so. I remembered when I had first met Annabeth—she was so busy trying to find Percy, it's a miracle that she got anything else done. I was sure Percy would be doing the same thing.

Seeing him in his current state, though, it occurred to me why he wasn't.

Annabeth, being the daughter of Athena, was the wisest person I knew. She'd use reason and logic long before she'd let her feelings play into anything—though, her feelings certainly would motivate her to get things done quicker. Percy probably stepped aside and asked Jason to lead, since he was a lot more level-headed. He probably thought that the best way to get there was through reason and logic—not emotion. Considering the way he looked, he must have felt terrible, which isn't so good if you're trying to be reasonable.

Jason, however, did well under pressure. That being said, if he were in Percy's place, he'd be acting the same. I guess it was just that Annabeth meant too much to Percy for him to stay level-headed.

I glanced at the others around the table. Hazel was bleary-eyed, too, but she had been up all night guiding the ship through the mountains using Hecate's secret passage. Her curly cinnamon-colored hair was tied back in a bandana, which gave her a commando look I found kinda hot—which is something that I shouldn't even be thinking about.

Next to her was her boyfriend, Frank Zhang, dressed in black work out pants and a T-shirt that said "Ciao!". Frank's old centurion badge was pinned to his shirt, despite all of just now being Public Enemies 1-7 back at Camp Jupiter.

Nico di Angelo, Hazel's half brother, sat back in his leather aviator jacket, black T-shirt and jeans. He had his silver skull ring on his finger and the Stygian sword at his side. His black hair curled up like baby bat wings. Creepy.

Nico's eyes were sad and empty, as if he'd stared into the depths of Tartarus—which he had. I had more sense than to ask, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. If anybody would know anything about Tartarus, it would be him. I kinda wanted to ask about Annabeth but I'm sure he was tired from answering that question from Percy.

The only absent demigod was Piper, which I found unfortunate. Piper had a way of calming people down, but she was busy at the helm with Coach Hedge.

I had completely zoned out that I didn't realize Jason had been talking.

"—the House of Hades," he was saying. "Nico?"

Nico sat forward. "I communed with the dead last night." _Okay, cool_, I thought, commenting on how casual he made that sound. "I was able to learn more about what we'll face. In ancient times, the House of Hades was a major site for Greek pilgrims. They would come to speak with the dead and honor their ancestors."

"Kinda like Día de los Muertos," I said. "My Aunt Rosa took that stuff seriously."

I wasn't kidding—she really did. She would drag me to the local cemetery in Houston, where they'd clean up our relatives' gravesites and put out offerings of lemonade, cookies, and fresh marigolds. She'd force me to stay for a picnic, as if it was good for my appetite.

Frank grunted. "Chinese have that, too—ancestor worship, sweeping the graves in the springtime." He looked at me. "Your Aunt Rosa would've gotten along with my grandmother."

Now, that's a sight I hope I'll never see.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm sure they'd be best buds."

Nico cleared his throat, calling the attention back to him. "A lot of cultures have seasonal traditions to honor the dead, but the House of Hades was open all year long. Pilgrims could actually _speak_ to the ghosts. In Greek, the place was called the Necromanteion, the Oracle of Death. You'd work your way through different levels of tunnels, leaving offerings and drinking special potions—"

"Special potions," I muttered. "Yum."

Jason looked at me, and I felt my heart sink in shame. I knew it wasn't the time, especially what we have at stake, but I thought it would have been nice to lighten the mood a bit. "Nico, go on."

"The pilgrims believed that each level of the temple brought you closer to the Underworld, until the dead would appear before you. If they were pleased with your offerings, they would answer your questions, maybe even tell you the future."

Frank tapped his mug of hot chocolate. "And if the spirits _weren't_ pleased?"

"Some pilgrims found nothing," Nico said. "Some went insane, or died after leaving the temple. Others lost their way in the tunnels and were never seen again."

"The point is," Jason said quickly, figuring it wouldn't be great idea to let that grim thought linger in the air for too long. "Nico found some information that might help us."

"Yeah," Nico said, though he didn't sound very enthusiastic. "The ghost I spoke to last night… he was a former priest of Hecate. He confirmed what the goddess told Hazel yesterday at the crossroads. In the first war with the giants, Hecate fought for the gods. She slew one of the giants—one who'd been designed as the _anti-_Hecate. A guy named in Clytius."

"I suppose he'll be waiting for us, guarding the Doors of Death."

"There _is_ some good news," Nico said. "The ghost I talked to explained how Hecate defeated Clytius in the first war. She used her torches to set his hair on fire. He burned to death. In other words, fire is his weakness."

Everybody looked at me.

"Oh," I said, wishing they would stop. I doubted it would be as simple it sounded to defeat him. "Okay."

"It's a good lead," Jason insisted. "At least we know how to kill the giant."

"So," Hazel said, "Now we just have to reach the House of Hades, battle our way through Gaea's forces—"

"Plus a bunch of ghosts," Nico added grimly. "The spirits in that temple may not be so friendly."

"—And find the Doors of Death," Hazel continued. "Assuming we can somehow arrive at the same time as Percy and Annabeth and rescue them."

Frank swallowed a bite of pancake. "We can do it," he said hopefully, nodding and looking around.

"We _have _to," Percy muttered. The corners of my lips twitched down, remembering how much this meant to him in particular.

"So," I said, "With this detour, I'm estimating four or five days to arrive at Epirus, assuming no delays for, you know, monster attacks and stuff."

"Yeah," Jason sighed. "Those never happen."

"Hecate told you that Gaea was planning her big Wake Up party on August first, right? The Feast of Whatever?" I asked, looking at Hazel.

"Spes," she said. "The goddess of hope."

_Well, she does have something for dramatics, I guess_.

"Theoretically, that leaves us enough time," Jason said, turning his fork. "It's only July 5th. We should be able to close the Doors and then find the giants' HQ and stop them from waking Gaea before August first."

"Theoretically," Hazel agreed. "But I'd still like to know how we make our way through the House of Hades without going insane or dying."

A silence fell over the group. Nobody had any ideas to volunteer.

Frank set down his pancake roll like it suddenly didn't taste so good. "It's July fifth. Oh, jeez, I hadn't even thought of that…"

"Hey man, it's cool," I said. "You're Canadian, right? I didn't expect you to get me an Independence Day present or anything… unless you wanted to."

"It's not that," Frank said. "My grandmother always told me that seven was an unlucky number. It was a _ghost_ number. She didn't like it when I told her there would be seven demigods on our quest. And July is the seventh month."

"Yeah, but…" I tapped my fingers nervously on the table. I realized I was doing the Morse code for _I love you_, the way I used to do with my mom. This was the one moment I felt a little grateful Annabeth wasn't here. If anybody knew Morse code on the Argo II, it would be Annabeth, who would no doubt raise an eyebrow at me.

Then, looking at Percy, I felt guilty for even thinking about that. It was obvious to everybody that he could barely think straight with her in Tartarus. He hadn't even tried to eat his breakfast, either.

I fought against saying something about it. It wasn't the time to mention it, especially not in front of everybody else. I could see Annabeth, though, chastising him and telling him to eat and to not be stupid.

When I snapped out of my thoughts, I saw Nico looking at Percy's full plate too.

Then, he saw everybody else looking at him, and it occurred to him he had stopped mid-sentence.

"It's just gotta be a coincidence, right?"

Frank's expression didn't reassure him.

"Back in China," Frank began, "in the old days, people called the seventh month the _ghost_ month. That's when the spirit world and the human world were closest. The living and the dead could go back and forth. Tell me it's a coincidence we're searching for the Doors of Death during the ghost month."

No one spoke.

I wanted to think that it had to have been unrelated—that old Chinese beliefs weren't tied with Greece's or Rome's. But Frank's existence proved that they were tied together.

I also kept thinking about what Nemesis had said at the Great Salt Lake. She said I was the seventh wheel—she didn't mean seventh as in _ghost_, right?

Jason pressed his hands against the arms of the chair. "Let's focus on the things we can deal with. We're getting close to Bologna. Maybe we'll get more answers once we find these dwarfs that Hecate—"

The ship lurched as if it had hit an iceberg. My breakfast plate slid across the table. Nico fell backward out of his chair and banged his head against the sideboard. He collapsed on the floor, with a dozen magic goblets and platters crashing down on top of him.

"Nico!" Hazel ran to help him.

"What—?" Frank tried to stand, but the ship pitched in the other direction. He stumbled into the table and went face-first into my plate of scrambled eggs.

"Look!" Jason pointed at the walls. The images of Camp Half-Blood were flickering and changing.

"Not possible," I murmured.

Suddenly, a huge, distorted face filled the entire port-side wall: crooked yellow teeth, a scraggly red beard, a warty nose, and two mismatched eyes—one much larger than the other. The face seemed to be trying to eat its way into the room.

The other walls changed into what must have been happening above. Piper stood at the helm, but something was wrong. From the shoulders own, she was wrapped in duct tape, her mouth gagged and her legs bound to the control console. Coach Hedge was similarly bound and gagged at the mainmast. A bizarre-looking creature danced around him, doing his hair.

On the port-side wall, the same creature began leaping around the deck, stuffing things in a burlap back.

"Dwarfs," Hazel grumbled.

"Stealing my stuff!" I yelled, running for the stairs.


	10. Chapter 9

**LEO**

It seemed that taking off was pretty much a useless move.

By the time I got to the deck, the dwarfs were being held by their feet with water and being shaken. Whatever they stole would fall off them and, while they struggled and squealed, their attempts to get free of keep a hold of items were useless.

"Woah," I murmured, stopping in my tracks, blocking the stairway. Soon, the others would bump into me, forcing me to move or fall forward.

"Do we have everything we need?" Percy asked, but you wouldn't be able to tell it was him if you didn't know it was his voice. His voice sounded as empty and hopeless as Nico. No offence to the son of Hades, of course.

"Uh well, I guess I'll check," I answered, starting to collect whatever was now lying on the floor in the dwarfs' bags.

I started to put aside whatever was ours—Piper's dagger, the Archimedes Sphere, and so on. While looking in the box, it occurred to me that Hazel had said something about finding a useful piece of treasure, though, whatever it was was beyond him. There was a bunch of treasure in the bags, ranging from coins to paper clips to foil wrappers. Whatever was shiny, they took.

I kept coming back to a couple of things that didn't seem to belong in the pile. One was an old bronze navigation device, like an astrolabe. It was badly damaged and seemed to be missing some pieces, but it was still very fascinating.

"Take it!" One of the dwarfs said. "Odysseus made it, you know! Take it and let us go!"

"Odysseus?" Jason asked, walking beside Leo. "Like, _the_ Odysseus."

The dwarf nodded feverishly. "Yes! Made it when he was an old mad in Ithaca. One of his last inventions, and we stole it!"

"How does it work?" I asked.

"Oh, it doesn't," another dwarf said. "Something about a missing crystal?" He glanced at the first dwarf.

"'My biggest what-if,'" the dwarf said. "'Should have taken a crystal.' That's what he kept muttering in his sleep the night we stole it. No idea what he meant, but the shiny is yours! Can we go now?"

I wasn't sure why I wanted the astrolabe. It obviously didn't work, and I had no idea if it was what Hecate wanted us to find, but I took it anyways.

I turned my attention to the other strange pieces of loot—the leather bound book. Its title was in gold leaf, in a language I didn't understand, but nothing else about the book seemed shiny. I didn't think the dwarfs would be big bookworms.

"What's this?" I asked them. They seemed to be getting dazed from staying upside down.

"Nothing!" Dwarf 2 said. "Just a book. It had a pretty gold cover, so we took it from him."

"Him?" I asked.

The two dwarfs that I had been talking to exchanged a nervous look.

"Minor god," Dwarf 1 said. "In Venice. Really, it's nothing."

"Venice?" Percy piped up, walking to Leo's other side. "Isn't that where we're supposed to go next?"

"Yeah," I answered, examining the book. I couldn't read the text, but it had a lot of illustrations: scythes, plants, the sun, a team of oxen pulling a cart. I didn't know how any of it was important, but if the book had been stolen from a minor god in Venice—the next place Hecate had told us to go—then it _had_ to be what we were looking for.

"Where exactly can we find this minor god?" I asked.

"No!" Dwarf 2 shrieked. "You can't take it back to him! If he finds out we stole it—"

"He'll destroy you," Jason guessed.

"Which is what we'll do if you don't tell us," Percy threatened, his voice low. He squeezed the water tentacles he had used to wrap around the dwarfs. "And we're a _lot_ closer."

I didn't like this side of him. I had never seen Percy this mad before. The past couple days—sure, he's been upset and absolutely devastated about Annabeth, but he wasn't angry. Well, he didn't _look_ angry… until now.

But now, I understood why he was angry. This was just some inconvenience to him—something deterring us from getting to the Doors and saving Annabeth as fast as we could. This was an obstacle, and he couldn't _wait_ to get past it.

"Okay, okay!" Dwarf 2 shrieked at the pressure Percy was putting on him. When the dwarf surrendered, Percy loosened the pressure a bit. "La Casa Nera! Cale Frezzeria!"

"Is that an address?" Leo asked.

The two dwarfs nodded vigorously.

"Please don't tell him we stole it!" Dwarf 1 begged. "He isn't nice at all!"

"Who is he?" Percy interrogated. "What god?"

"I—I can't say—" Dwarf 1 was saying, but Percy tightened the grip around them again.

"You'd better," Percy growled.

"No!" Dwarf 1 said miserably. I was almost feeling sorry for him. "I mean, I _really_ can't say. I can't pronounce it! Tr—tri—It's too hard!"

"Truh," Dwarf 2 tried. "Tru-toh—Too many syllables!"

They both burst into tears.

If I wasn't feeling bad for them before, I definitely was now. Looking at Jason, he kind of was too. When I looked at Percy, though—

Man, you wouldn't even be able to tell it was Percy.

His jaw was clenched and he glared at the two dwarfs so much that you'd think lasers would shoot out of his eyes to kill them. If looks could kill, the dwarfs should have been dead ten seconds ago.

"What do you want to do with them, Leo?" Jason asked. "Send them to Tartarus?" Beside him, Leo could see Percy wince at the name. For the most part, though, he held his angry stature.

"Could always drown them," Percy suggested.

Percy was scaring me. He didn't even sound like he was pretending to threaten them—he really meant it. If I had said yes, he'd do it without a second thought.

"Please no!" Dwarf 2 wailed. "It might take us weeks to come back!"

"Assuming Gaea even lets us!" Dwarf 1 sniffled. "She controls the Doors of Death now. She'll be very cross with us."

I looked at the dwarfs. I'd fought lots of monsters before, and I never felt bad about dissolving them. Looking at these little guys, though… It was different. I had to admit, I kinda admired them. They played cool pranks and liked shiny things—I could relate to that.

Besides, Annabeth was in Tartarus, hopefully still alive, trudging toward the Doors of Death. Sending these two little guys to face the same nightmarish problem… It didn't seem right. That, and if Annabeth would ever run into them, it would make her job ten times harder.

I imagined Gaea laughing at my weakness—a demigod too softhearted to kill monsters.

"Nothing can slow them down," I mused. "I wonder…"

"What?" Jason asked.

I looked at the dwarfs. "I'll make you a deal."

Dwarf 2 lit up. "We'll give you thirty percent and you let us go?"

"We'll leave you all your treasure _except_ for what's ours, the astrolabe, and the book, which we'll take back to the dude in Venice—"

"But he'll destroy us!" Dwarf 1 wailed.

"We won't say where we got it," I promised. "And we'll let you go free, unharmed."

The two dwarfs rejoiced.

"But!" Leo interrupted their celebration. "In return, you have to do something for us. I'm going to send you somewhere to steal from some people, harass them, and make life hard for them any way you can. You have to follow my directions exactly. You have to swear on the River Styx."

"We swear!" Dwarf 1 agreed. "Stealing from people is our specialty!"

"I love harassment!" Dwarf 2 said. "Where are we going?"

Leo grinned. "Ever heard of New York?"


	11. Chapter 10

**ANNABETH**

Half-Blood Hill. Finally. Gods, I didn't realise how much I missed home. The Big House looked so welcoming from where I was.

I was trying to climb up, as hard as I could, but I couldn't seem to move. My limbs cried and wailed and screamed with every slow, agonizing movement. Whenever I made one step closer, the Camp seemed to that ten times farther.

"Hurry, hurry!" Grover yelled. Luke took my hand, trying to pull me up.

Wait.

I looked back. Thalia stood behind us, holding back an army of hellhounds with her shield, Aegis.

_I can help! I can help!_

At this point, I've dealt with worse. I could help Thalia! She didn't have to—

At the top of the hill, I could see the valley below—the warm lights of the cabins, the possibility of sanctuary. My heart sung at the sight—_home_.

I stumbled, twisting my ankle, and Luke scooped me up to carry me. When we looked back, the monsters were a few yards away—dozens of them surrounded Thalia.

_Wait!_

"Go!" Thalia yelled. "I'll hold them off!"

She brandished her spear, and forked lightning slashed through the monsters' ranks; but as the hellhounds fell, more took her place.

"We have to run!" Grover cried.

He led the way into camp, Luke running after him with me in his arms. I screamed and thrashed, struggling to escape his grasp.

"_Thalia_!" I screamed. Her blue eyes locked on mine, and I could see the hellhounds closing in around her. "Thalia, no! Luke, let me go! I can help! _Thalia_!"

And suddenly, we weren't at Camp anymore.

I was still on the hill, but next to Thalia's pine tree. I heard thunder and looked up to see a storm brewing overhead.

Thunder sounded again, shaking the valley. A blast of lightning split the tree down to its roots, opening a smoking crevice. In the darkness below stood Reyna, the praetor of New Rome, in a blood red cloak. Her golden armour glinted and she stared up at me, her face regal and distant.

"You have done well," she said, but it wasn't her voice saying it—it was Athena. "The rest of my journey must be on the wings of Rome."

Her dark eyes turned a stormy grey.

"I must stand here," she told me. "The Roman must bring me."

The hill shook. The ground rippled as the grass became folds of silk—the dress of a massive goddess. Gaea rose over the Camp, her sleeping face as large as a mountain.

Hellhounds poured over the hill. Giants, six-armed Earthborn, and wild Cyclopes charged from the beach, tearing down the dining pavilion and setting fire to the cabins and the building house. It was worse that the Battle of the Labyrinth—I had never seen such devastation of the Camp. There was no way the campers could hold them off.

"Hurry," Athena's voice echoed in my mound. "The message must be sent."

The ground split open at my feet and I screamed, trying to climb up, but something tugged at my leg. The weight grew heavier and heavier and then suddenly I wasn't holding onto the ground, I was holding onto Percy's hand.

"Help me," Percy grunted, trying to pull me up. "Annabeth… help… me…"

"Percy," I grunted out, trying to help as much as I could, but I couldn't.

A wave of hopelessness flooded my senses. I felt numb, inside and out. Suddenly, my leg didn't hurt, and Percy's tight grip on me didn't hurt. Being stretched didn't hurt. On the inside, I felt an excruciatingly painful sense of emptiness.

"Let me go," spilled out of my lips, but I wouldn't have been able to tell that I had been the one that said it.

And then I fell.

I shot up, gasping for air.

Note to self: Never EVER fall asleep in Tartarus.

"Annabeth okay?" Bob asked me. To be honest, I almost forgot that he was here, keeping watch.

"Yeah," I lied, fixing my position to sit more comfortably. "Yeah, Bob, I'm—I'm fine."

As I began to come back to my senses and the circumstances, a familiar smell hit my nose.

"Is that pizza?"

"Burnt offerings!" Bob said. "Sacrifices to Hermes from the mortal world come here in a cloud of smoke. I got M&M's!" He showed me the bag of peanut M&M's he had been eating. "You can have… uh… grapes! Or hot dog or…"

"Thank you, Bob," I said, forcing a smile on my face as I got some of the roast beef.

It was the best thing I had ever tasted. I don't know if it was because I hadn't eaten for so long or if it was genuinely the best roast beef I had.

It reminded me of home—of Camp Half-Blood.

I would think that maybe it is. Every meal at Camp, we'd burn food for our godly parents. Maybe it tasted like the roast beef from Camp Half-Blood because it _was_ from Camp Half-Blood.

Before I could think about it too much, I shook it off. I needed to focus on the now.

I needed to get to the Doors of Death, and I had _no_ idea where we are or how to get back to where we were without the risk of getting lost.

I looked at Bob, who was happily munching on the M&M's. As much as I didn't want to trust a Titan, he was my best shot at getting out alive. Maybe even the best shot at getting me out in a decent enough condition to not just immediately collapse in the mortal world. He knew rest stops, and I needed an ally.

"Bob?" I asked, breaking the silence. He looked at me. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get to the Doors of Death, would you?"

"Bob knows!" He said happily. "Into the Dark Lands. The Doors of Death… hmm, walking straight to them would be bad. Too many monsters there. Even Bob not sweep that many. They would kill Annabeth in about two seconds." He frowned. "I _think_ seconds. Time is hard."

"Right," I grumbled. "So is there another way?"

"Hiding," he answered. "The Death Mist could hide you."

The Death Mist? Never heard of it. But if it was used to hide, then I would guess that it would be similar to the Mist in the mortal world.

"So, how do we get it?"

"It is dangerous," Bob warned. "But if the lady will give you Death Mist, it might hide you. If we can avoid Night. The lade is _very_ close to Night. That is bad."

"The lady?" I asked, hoping he would expound on what he meant, but he didn't.

"Yes," he said. He appointed ahead of me into the inky blackness. "We should go."

You might be thinking that I should be thrilled that there would be a stealthy way to get out of here, considering I had virtually no weapon or quick way to heal myself if I got hurt. But looking at the darkness he had been pointing at—well, to say I was less than thrilled would be an understatement.

But, as I find helpful to keep saying in my pilgrimage in Tartarus, it's the best chance I had.

On top of that, I had been thinking about my nightmare—Thalia's tree splintered by lighting, Gaea raising on the hillside, monsters flooding Camp Half-Blood.

Those couldn't have been normal nightmares. On top of that, Athena telling me about where she should stand, saying the Roman should bring her—

The Parthenos. It had to be.

I stared at the black altar—Hermes' altar. The god of travellers, guide to the spirits of the dead, god of communication.

It was the best chance I had.

"Do you have a pen?" I asked Bob, who shook his head. I walked to a pile of trash and picked out a reasonably clean paper napkin.

_Hurry. The message must be sent_.

"Bob, offerings burned in the mortal world arrive here, right?"

"Yes?" Bob answered.

"So what if I burn something on the altar here?"

"Uh…"

"That's alright," I dismissed. "It's never been done."

If it could appear at Camp Half-Blood, it just might work.

Doubtful that it would, but it _might_. And _might_ was good enough for me.

"I need a pen," I said, frustrated. "Or something to write with or—"

Before there were pens, there were quills. Before that, people used a number of objects that were pointy. Carved turtle shells, reeds. Really, all I needed was something pointy and something to use as ink.

I took my glass dagger and sharpened it against the altar. _Sorry, Hermes_. I was sure that if I were to ever see him again, I'd have to apologize profusely and give him a thousand offerings, but it was desperate times.

I cut my hand, allowing some blood to pour out of it.

"Annabeth no!" Bob said.

"It's alright. I'm okay," I assured him, dipping the sharp end of my makeshift dagger into my blood and beginning to write on the napkin in big enough letters to make sure that even if it smudged a little, the message was legible.

CONNOR,  
GIVE THIS TO RACHEL. NOT A PRANK. DON'T BE A MORON.  
LOVE,  
ANNABETH

I took a deep breath. I was asking Rachel Dare to do something ridiculously dangerous, but it was the only way I could think of to communicate with the Romans without bloodshed.

"Now I just need to burn it," I said. At that, the point of Bob's speak shot from his broom handle. It sparked against the altar and erupted in a silvery fire. "Thanks."

"We should go now," Bob advised. "Really, really go. Before we are killed."

I stared at the wall of darkness Bob had pointed to and walked next to him. He touched the wound on my hand and healed it.

"Thank you," I told him.

"Bob helps!" He answered.

He did. And somewhere in the darkness, there was Death Mist to help me stealthily get out of Tartarus.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "I'm ready."


	12. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the support you're giving! I would appreciate more reviews and comments! What do you like so far? What don't you like? What do you think is gonna happen?  
****HOMEWORK (if you choose to accept it): Why do you think I'm not writing Percy's POV? You can actually find the answer in this chapter!**

**Happy reading! Have fun! - N x**

* * *

**FRANK**

Saying that I argued with voices in my head would have made me sound insane, but for a half-blood, it seemed almost normal.

I woke up to a splitting migraine with Mars and Ares bickering in my head. Well, they weren't so much bickering than they were just constantly telling me to destroy Greece or Rome.

_Fight them! _yelled Mars. _Take this ship! Defend Rome!_

The voice of Ares shouted back: _Kill the Romans! Blood and death! Large guns!_

My father's Roman and Greek personalities screamed back and forth in my mind with the usual soundtrack of battle noises, all throbbing behind my eyes.

I sat up, dizzy with pain. As I did every morning, I took a deep breath and stared at the lamp on my desk—a tiny flame that burned night and day, fuelled by magic olive oil from the supply room.

Fire was my biggest fear. Keeping an open flame in my room terrified me, but it also helped me focus. The noise in my head quieted down, allowing me to think.

I'd gotten better at this, but ever since the fight at Camp Jupiter, the two voices had started screaming at each other nonstop. Ever since, I had been stumbling around in a daze, barely able to function. I'd act like a fool, and I was sure my friends thought so too.

I couldn't tell them what was wrong. There was nothing they could do, and judging from the way they were acting, they likely didn't have the same problem. Besides, they didn't need to worry about this too. Not with Annabeth gone.

My friends needed me now more than ever. Without Annabeth, I was the closest thing they had to a battle strategist. They would need me for the trip ahead.

Annabeth had been kind to me. Even when I was so distracted and acted like a buffoon, Annabeth had been patient and helpful. Despite Ares and Mars' yelling, I had grown to respect her. Keeping sane and helping the group was something I could do to help her. It was something I needed to do.

After getting dressed and continually ignoring the voices in my head (at some point he even got them to quiet down!), I climbed above deck to meet the others.

The Argo II was docked at a busy wharf. On one side stretched a shipping channel about half a kilometer wide. On the other spread the city of Venice—red-tiled roofs, metal church domes, steepled towers, and sun-bleached buildings in all the colors of Valentine candy hearts—red, white, ochre, pink, and orange.

There were statues of lions everywhere—on top of doorways, pedastals, on the porticoes of the largest buildings. They must be the city's mascots.

Where streets should have been, green canals etched their way through the neighbourhoods, each one jammed with motorboats. Along the docks, the sidewalks were swamped with tourists shopping at kiosks and stores, and lounging across acres of outdoor café tables. It was insane.

Nobody else paid attention to it though. All my friends had gathered at the starboard rail to stare at the dozens of weird shaggy monsters milling through the crowds.

Each monster was about the size of a cow, with a bowed back like a broken-down horse, matted gray fur, skinny legs, and black cloven hooves. Their long, anteater-like snouts drooped to the ground. Their overgrown gray manes completely covered their eyes.

"The mortals thing they're stray dogs," Jason said.

"Or pets roaming around," Piper added with a shrug. "My dad shot a film in Venice once. I remember him telling me there were dogs everywhere. Venetians love dogs."

I frowned. I had forgotten Piper's father was an A-List movie star.

"Does it matter?" Percy asked in a monotone. "Let's go do what we're supposed to."

I looked at Percy, and I really _looked_ at him. I hadn't noticed how pale and thin he's gotten. His eyes seemed to sink into his head, and the black-purple bags seemed to only be getting deeper and deeper. I'd never been to the Underworld, but in the state he was in, it looked like the souls of the dead looked better than he did.

Percy hadn't talked much since Annabeth had fallen, and whenever he did, he seemed to have the same sentiments as Coach Hedge when it came to dealing with enemies—destroy them quick and keep moving. I imagined that losing Annabeth _again _and knowing she'd have to go through Tartarus on her own made it feel like walking in the Mortal world without her was the same thing.

I looked at Hazel, who I trusted with a piece of firewood that was tied to my lifespan. If I lost her the way Percy lost Annabeth…

Well, I couldn't blame him for acting the way he was.

_"But it doesn't make it wise," he could hear Annabeth say. "He needs to take care of himself. Be in the best shape he can be."_

She would be right. Percy compromising his health _wasn't_ wise at all. It wouldn't help Annabeth. If he got sick or too fatigued to use his powers, it would only make things more difficult to save her.

I noted the way he was speaking and acting. The empty look in his eyes made things clear. Percy _wasn't_ thinking right now. As much as he may want to, he can't. To Percy, shutting off his brain was probably better than the alternative.

Like I said, I couldn't blame him. If it were Hazel, I'd be losing my mind too. I'd be thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Thinking of whether or not she was still alive. I'd probably shut off that part of me to, if it meant for it to hurt less.

"We should probably figure out what to do about them first," Jason reasoned.

"Maybe they're harmless," Leo suggested. "They're ignoring the mortals."

"Harmless!" Gleeson Hedge laughed. "Valdez, how many _harmless _monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens!"

"Uh, no," Leo disagreed.

I agreed with Leo. There were too many monsters. There was no way to take them out without causing collateral damage in the crowds of tourists, and that's without considering if one of them were to cause a stampede.

"We just halve to walk through them and hope they're peaceful," I said. "It's the only way we're going to track down the owner of that book."

Leo pulled out the leather-bound manual from underneath his arm. He'd slapped a sticky note on the cover with the address the dwarfs had given him in Bologna.

"_La Casa Nera_," he read. "_Calle Frezzeria._"

"The Black House," Nico translated. "Calle Frezzeria is the street."

I tried not to flinch when I realized Nico was at my shoulder. The guy was so quiet and brooding, he almost seemed to dematerialize when he wasn't speaking. Hazel might have been the one to come back from the dead, but Nico was _way_ more ghostlike.

"You speak Italian?" I asked him.

Nico shot me a warning look, telling me not to ask anymore questions. "Frank is right. We have to find that address. The only way to do it is to walk the city. Venice is a maze. We'll have to risk the crowds and… whatever those are."

Thunder rumbled in the sky. We had passed through some storms the night before, but I thought they were over. Now, I was thinking that they probably weren't.

"I'll stay on the ship," Jason said. "We had a lot of _venti_ in that storm last night. If they decide to attack again…"

He didn't need to finish. We all had experiences with the angry wind spirits. Jason was the only one who had much luck fighting them.

"Well, I'm gonna stay here too," Coach Hedge said. "If you guys aren't even gonna think about knocking those things out? Forget it. I don't like boring quests."

"That's okay, Coach." Leo grinned. "We still have to repair the foremast. Then I need your help in the engine room. I've got an idea for a new installation."

_Great_. I wasn't a fan of the "new installations" Leo would try out ever since he got the Archimedes sphere. They usually exploded or sent smoke billowing upstairs into my cabin.

"Well, whoever goes should be good with animals. I, uh… I'll admit I'm not great with cows," Piper said, shifting her feet.

"I'll go," I said.

"Awesome," Leo said. "If you pass a hardware store, could you get me some two-by-fours and a gallon of tar?"

"It's not a shopping trip," Percy reminded Leo, who frowned. "I'll go too."

As much as I appreciated Percy, him coming with me to find the owner of the book wasn't something I looked forward to.

"Me too," Nico said. "There's something about this place. Lots of death and restless spirits. If I go, I'll be able to keep them at bay. Besides, as you noticed, I can speak Italian."

And, not to mention, Nico was basically put in charge of babysitting Percy while Annabeth was away. Normally, I wouldn't have been thrilled about Nico coming either, but with Percy being the way he was, it was easier to be enthusiastic about his presence.

"I'll go too," Hazel said. "While three is best for a quest, I figure since Hecate said we had to come here, I should go."

Hazel linked her arm with mine and I fought back a smile. _Thank you, thank you, thank you_, I tried to tell her with my eyes. She made walking around Venice with the other two less terrifying.


	13. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while! I've been super sick, but I'm okay now! Just a little tired and run down haha. Enjoy the chapter! - N x**

**Guest (who answered the homework): That's the general gist of it, but there's a little bit more to it than that. Still, thank you for answering the question! Full marks for basically getting it hehe This is fanfic, this isn't school, so you should just worry about enjoying and having fun.**

* * *

**FRANK**

Saying that I argued with voices in my head would have made me sound insane, but for a half-blood, it seemed almost normal.

I woke up to a splitting migraine with Mars and Ares bickering in my head. Well, they weren't so much bickering than they were just constantly telling me to destroy Greece or Rome.

_Fight them! _yelled Mars. _Take this ship! Defend Rome!_

The voice of Ares shouted back: _Kill the Romans! Blood and death! Large guns!_

My father's Roman and Greek personalities screamed back and forth in my mind with the usual soundtrack of battle noises, all throbbing behind my eyes.

I sat up, dizzy with pain. As I did every morning, I took a deep breath and stared at the lamp on my desk—a tiny flame that burned night and day, fuelled by magic olive oil from the supply room.

Fire was my biggest fear. Keeping an open flame in my room terrified me, but it also helped me focus. The noise in my head quieted down, allowing me to think.

I'd gotten better at this, but ever since the fight at Camp Jupiter, the two voices had started screaming at each other nonstop. Ever since, I had been stumbling around in a daze, barely able to function. I'd act like a fool, and I was sure my friends thought so too.

I couldn't tell them what was wrong. There was nothing they could do, and judging from the way they were acting, they likely didn't have the same problem. Besides, they didn't need to worry about this too. Not with Annabeth gone.

My friends needed me now more than ever. Without Annabeth, I was the closest thing they had to a battle strategist. They would need me for the trip ahead.

Annabeth had been kind to me. Even when I was so distracted and acted like a buffoon, Annabeth had been patient and helpful. Despite Ares and Mars' yelling, I had grown to respect her. Keeping sane and helping the group was something I could do to help her. It was something I needed to do.

After getting dressed and continually ignoring the voices in my head (at some point he even got them to quiet down!), I climbed above deck to meet the others.

The Argo II was docked at a busy wharf. On one side stretched a shipping channel about half a kilometer wide. On the other spread the city of Venice—red-tiled roofs, metal church domes, steepled towers, and sun-bleached buildings in all the colors of Valentine candy hearts—red, white, ochre, pink, and orange.

There were statues of lions everywhere—on top of doorways, pedastals, on the porticoes of the largest buildings. They must be the city's mascots.

Where streets should have been, green canals etched their way through the neighbourhoods, each one jammed with motorboats. Along the docks, the sidewalks were swamped with tourists shopping at kiosks and stores, and lounging across acres of outdoor café tables. It was insane.

Nobody else paid attention to it though. All my friends had gathered at the starboard rail to stare at the dozens of weird shaggy monsters milling through the crowds.

Each monster was about the size of a cow, with a bowed back like a broken-down horse, matted gray fur, skinny legs, and black cloven hooves. Their long, anteater-like snouts drooped to the ground. Their overgrown gray manes completely covered their eyes.

"The mortals thing they're stray dogs," Jason said.

"Or pets roaming around," Piper added with a shrug. "My dad shot a film in Venice once. I remember him telling me there were dogs everywhere. Venetians love dogs."

I frowned. I had forgotten Piper's father was an A-List movie star.

"Does it matter?" Percy asked in a monotone. "Let's go do what we're supposed to."

I looked at Percy, and I really _looked_ at him. I hadn't noticed how pale and thin he's gotten. His eyes seemed to sink into his head, and the black-purple bags seemed to only be getting deeper and deeper. I'd never been to the Underworld, but in the state he was in, it looked like the souls of the dead looked better than he did.

Percy hadn't talked much since Annabeth had fallen, and whenever he did, he seemed to have the same sentiments as Coach Hedge when it came to dealing with enemies—destroy them quick and keep moving. I imagined that losing Annabeth _again _and knowing she'd have to go through Tartarus on her own made it feel like walking in the Mortal world without her was the same thing.

I looked at Hazel, who I trusted with a piece of firewood that was tied to my lifespan. If I lost her the way Percy lost Annabeth…

Well, I couldn't blame him for acting the way he was.

_"But it doesn't make it wise," he could hear Annabeth say. "He needs to take care of himself. Be in the best shape he can be."_

She would be right. Percy compromising his health _wasn't_ wise at all. It wouldn't help Annabeth. If he got sick or too fatigued to use his powers, it would only make things more difficult to save her.

I noted the way he was speaking and acting. The empty look in his eyes made things clear. Percy _wasn't_ thinking right now. As much as he may want to, he can't. To Percy, shutting off his brain was probably better than the alternative.

Like I said, I couldn't blame him. If it were Hazel, I'd be losing my mind too. I'd be thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Thinking of whether or not she was still alive. I'd probably shut off that part of me to, if it meant for it to hurt less.

"We should probably figure out what to do about them first," Jason reasoned.

"Maybe they're harmless," Leo suggested. "They're ignoring the mortals."

"Harmless!" Gleeson Hedge laughed. "Valdez, how many _harmless _monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens!"

"Uh, no," Leo disagreed.

I agreed with Leo. There were too many monsters. There was no way to take them out without causing collateral damage in the crowds of tourists, and that's without considering if one of them were to cause a stampede.

"We just halve to walk through them and hope they're peaceful," I said. "It's the only way we're going to track down the owner of that book."

Leo pulled out the leather-bound manual from underneath his arm. He'd slapped a sticky note on the cover with the address the dwarfs had given him in Bologna.

"_La Casa Nera_," he read. "_Calle Frezzeria._"

"The Black House," Nico translated. "Calle Frezzeria is the street."

I tried not to flinch when I realized Nico was at my shoulder. The guy was so quiet and brooding, he almost seemed to dematerialize when he wasn't speaking. Hazel might have been the one to come back from the dead, but Nico was _way_ more ghostlike.

"You speak Italian?" I asked him.

Nico shot me a warning look, telling me not to ask anymore questions. "Frank is right. We have to find that address. The only way to do it is to walk the city. Venice is a maze. We'll have to risk the crowds and… whatever those are."

Thunder rumbled in the sky. We had passed through some storms the night before, but I thought they were over. Now, I was thinking that they probably weren't.

"I'll stay on the ship," Jason said. "We had a lot of _venti_ in that storm last night. If they decide to attack again…"

He didn't need to finish. We all had experiences with the angry wind spirits. Jason was the only one who had much luck fighting them.

"Well, I'm gonna stay here too," Coach Hedge said. "If you guys aren't even gonna think about knocking those things out? Forget it. I don't like boring quests."

"That's okay, Coach." Leo grinned. "We still have to repair the foremast. Then I need your help in the engine room. I've got an idea for a new installation."

_Great_. I wasn't a fan of the "new installations" Leo would try out ever since he got the Archimedes sphere. They usually exploded or sent smoke billowing upstairs into my cabin.

"Well, whoever goes should be good with animals. I, uh… I'll admit I'm not great with cows," Piper said, shifting her feet.

"I'll go," I said.

"Awesome," Leo said. "If you pass a hardware store, could you get me some two-by-fours and a gallon of tar?"

"It's not a shopping trip," Percy reminded Leo, who frowned. "I'll go too."

As much as I appreciated Percy, him coming with me to find the owner of the book wasn't something I looked forward to.

"Me too," Nico said. "There's something about this place. Lots of death and restless spirits. If I go, I'll be able to keep them at bay. Besides, as you noticed, I can speak Italian."

And, not to mention, Nico was basically put in charge of babysitting Percy while Annabeth was away. Normally, I wouldn't have been thrilled about Nico coming either, but with Percy being the way he was, it was easier to be enthusiastic about his presence.

"I'll go too," Hazel said. "While three is best for a quest, I figure since Hecate said we had to come here, I should go."

Hazel linked her arm with mine and I fought back a smile. _Thank you, thank you, thank you_, I tried to tell her with my eyes. She made walking around Venice with the other two less terrifying.

* * *

I think I would have liked Venice if it hadn't been summer. You know, Venice but less crowds and more city. I would have liked to see more than just people crowded in the street and heads bobbing up and down with the steps the people took. What would have made it even better is if it weren't filled with those big hairy creatures.

One creature nibbed and licked at a crack between the stones until it dislodged some sort of green root. It sucked it up happily and kept walking along.

"Well," I said, "at least they're plant-eaters. That's good news."

"Let's hope they don't supplement that diet with demigods," Percy said. "We should really hurry up. The longer we're here, the more we endanger these people, ourselves, and Annabeth."

Hazel held my hand and squeezed it, almost to reassure me and to tell me to take it easy on Percy. Well, it worked. Venice suddenly didn't seem so bad walking with her at my side. I felt _needed_—useful.

Not that Hazel needed my protection, of course. Anybody could see that she handled herself just fine. Still, I liked being next to her and being her bodyguard anyways. If any of the creatures tried to harm her, I'd gladly turn into a rhinoceros and push them into the canal.

Nico stopped. "There."

We'd turned onto a smaller street, leaving the canals behind. Ahead of them was a small plaza lined with five-story buildings. The area was deserted—as if the mortas could sense it wasn't safe. In the middle of the cobblestone courtyard were a dozen of the creatures, sniffing around the base of a mossy stone wall.

"Lot of cows in one place," I said.

"Yeah, but look," Nico said, pointing at the far end of the plaza. "Past that archway."

I squinted, trying to see what he saw. Sure enough, at the end of the plaza was a stone archway, and behind it was a black building. It must've been the only black building in Venice.

"La Casa Nera," I guessed.

"I don't like that place," Hazel said, her grip tightening around my fingers. "It feels… cold."

I would disagree—I was almost drenched in sweat. Nico, however agreed.

"You're right, Hazel," Nico said. "The neighbourhood is filled with lemures."

"Lemurs?" I asked. "Like those furry little guys from Madagascar?"

"Angry ghosts," Nico explained. "They go back to Roman times. I've never seen so many in one place. My mom…" he hesitated. "My mom used to tell me stories about the ghosts of Venice."

I wondered about Nico's past, but I was afraid to ask. I caught Hazel's eye. _Go ahead_, she seemed to say. _He needs to practice talking to people_.

Before I could say anything, though, Percy interrupted.

"So how do we avoid them?" He asked.

"I'm already on it," Nico said. "I'm sending out the message that they should stay away and ignore us. Hopefully that's enough. Otherwise… things could get messy."

Hazel pursed her lips. "Let's get going."

Halfway across the plaza, everything went wrong; but it had nothing to do with the ghosts.

We were skirting the well in the middle of the square, trying to give the cow monsters some distance, when Hazel stumbled on a loose piece of cobblestone. I caught her. Six or seven of the creatures looked at us, and I glimpsed one of their glowing green eyes under one's mane. I was hit with a wave of nausea.

The creatures made deep throbbing sounds in their throats like angry foghorns.

"Nice cows," I murmured. I put myself between my friends and the creatures. "Guys, I'm thinking we should back out of here slowly."

"I'm such a klutz," Hazel whispered. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Nico said. "Look at your feet."

I looked down and caught my breath.

Under our shoes, the paving stones were moving—spiky plant tendrils were pushing up from the cracks.

Nico stepped back and the roots snaked out in his direction, trying to follow. The tendrils got thicket, exuding a steamy green vapor that smelled of boiled cabbage.

"These roots seem to like demigods," I noted.

Hazel's hand drifted to her sword hilt. "And the cow creatures like the roots."

The entire herd was now looking in our direction, making foghorn growls and stamping their hooves. I understood animal behavior well enough to get the message: _You are standing on our food. That makes you enemies._

I tried to think. There were too many monsters to fight, and when I caught a glimpse of their eyes, I was immediately hit with nausea. Imagine what would happen if you made direct eye contact.

"Don't look into their eyes," I warned. "I'll distract them. You three back up slowly toward that black house."

As it turned out, I could not turn into a rhino, and I lost valuable time trying. The other three bolted for the side of street. I stepped in front of the monsters, hoping to keep their attention. I yelled at the top of my lungs, but with Ares and Mars constantly screaming in my head, I couldn't concentrate enough to turn into a rhino.

Two of the monsters peeled off from the herd to chase Nico, Hazel, and Percy.

"No!" I yelled. "Me! I'm the rhino!"

The rest surrounded me, growling. Emerald-green gas billowed from their nostrils, and I stepped back to avoid it. The stench itself, though, nearly knocked me over.

I tried to turn into an animal—any animal—but I couldn't hold the image long enough to panic. My eyes landed on a stone carving on one of the town-house balconies, and the next instant, I had turned into the symbol of Venice—a lion.

_That'll do_.


	14. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! Sorry for the hiatus, but things are a little crazy. After I got sick, I had a show (I was in a musical haha), and then I was busy hanging out with friends and family since I'm leaving next week to move across the globe for college (woooo!). I'm doing the best I can with what little energy I have, so I hope you guys don't mind that my updates be a little sporadic for the time being. ^^;; Enjoy the chapter! -N x**

* * *

**ANNABETH**

I would never consider myself to be clumsy, but I do have my moments. I just didn't want my moment to happen when I was stuck in Tartarus and barely staying alive.

After entering the storm front, Bob and I kept walking for what felt like eons in what was basically pitch black. I walked and walked, relying on only Bob's faint glow to lead the way. Still, despite his glow, I could only see, at farthest, five feet in front of me. Rocks seemed to pop into existence, pits would suddenly form at my feet, and I could barely keep up enough not to fall. It was only a matter of time.

I could tell by the way my body seemed to want to fall forward that we were heading down. Down, down, and down seemed to be the only direction Tartarus went. If Tartarus _was_ alive and it _was_ a body, then it felt like we were travelling down its throat.

I shuddered at the thought, and it wasn't until I had fallen that I realized I had been too wrapped up in my thoughts to take in my surroundings.

Luckily for me, it wasn't a long fall and I had a soft landing. Relief flooded into my system for a second before I realized what it was I had landed on. I opened my eyes and found myself staring through a yellow membrane and at a giant face.

Before I could stop and collect myself, I screamed and pushed myself away from it. The dozens of nightmares that I had had after the Titan War pushed themselves into the front of my mind. My shoulder ached from an old wound and my heart ached from a new one.

Percy had fought this Titan during the Battle of Manhattan—water versus fire. It was the first time Percy had ever summoned a hurricane. Grover had turned the titan into a maple tree, as far as I could remember.

"Annabeth!" Bob's voice sounded in the darkness, and I could hear his heavy footsteps come closer to me. "Annabeth is okay?"

I remembered how Bob had pierced a membrane a little way's back, delaying the monster from reforming for at least a couple of days. I considered the same thing, but I only had a shard of glass as a weapon. I doubted it would puncture the membrane enough.

Before I could come up with some other plan to puncture the membrane, I felt a hand on my shoulder, tearing my gaze away from Hyperion.

"Annabeth is okay?" Bob repeated. I nodded.

"Annabeth—" I stopped myself. "I'm fine." By the time I had answered, though, Bob was preoccupied. I followed his gaze to the bubble. I mentally cursed. I should have lured him away first. I should have moved quicker.

_I shouldn't have fallen in the first place_. Whether I meant into Tartarus or from the edge of wherever we had been standing or both, I wasn't sure.

"We should go," I said, my voice weak.

"He looks like me," Bob said, his voice solemn and confused.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't puncture the membrane with Bob right beside me—not only because of the cruelty of the idea, but also because it may trigger some sort of memory or aggression. I couldn't lose my only ally.

What was I supposed to do, though? Comfort him? Tell him the truth? The guy probably won't stop thinking about it if I just leave it like this.

I frowned at the realization that, for the first time in a while, I was truly, utterly, and completely clueless.

_Percy would know what to do_.

"Hey, Bob," I said, gently. I'd have to give him some sort of explanation, right? Some sort of comfort?

Bob looked at me reluctantly, and I felt my throat go dry.

"I—" I started, but I quickly stopped when I realized I didn't really have anything to say. "Some monsters are good, right? Like you."

"Yeah," he nodded.

"And some are not so good. Like those ones that you swept away when we met."

"Yeah," he agreed.

"It's the same thing with everyone else, too," I tried. "Bob, you're a Titan."

"Titan," Bob repeated, a spark flickering in his eye. I gulped, afraid that I had just signed my own death warrant.

"Yeah, Titan. Now, there are a bunch of you, like there are a bunch of demigods and people and gods. And, like demigods and people and gods, there are bad ones and good ones."

Bob nodded, and I felt my stomach twist and my mouth dry when I realized what exactly I had been getting at. Until then, I had been grasping at straws, trying to come up with something—anything—to stay safe and keep moving. The words had been spilling out of my mouth before I could even think about what I was saying.

"You're good. You're super awesome, you know! But some titans are not so good and awesome. This guy is one of them."

"Not so good," Bob repeated. "But… he looks just like me." Bob looked away from me and at his brother, and I saw how his silver eyes shined.

It felt like my insides were being squeezed and jumbled up inside of me. I could almost feel the food I had eaten make its way back into my esophagus.

"He tried to hurt Percy, Bob," I told him, and the shininess from his eyes disappeared. "He tried to hurt your friend. He's not good like you are."

Bob's hands tightened around his broom handle. "Bob is good," he said. "Yes, there is always at least one good one—monsters, Titans, giants."

I didn't even respond to that.

A moment of silence fell between us, and just as I was about to say we should leave, Bob plunged his broom into the yellow membrane. The bubble burst into a geyser of golden hot mud.

The twisting feeling I had was gone. It shifted into a sinking feeling.

I had convinced Bob to murder his own family. I convinced him that Hyperion was not "one of us" and was therefore bad. How many demigods had been convinced into the same thing during the Titan War? How many small monsters were convinced that demigods were bad just because we were different? What separated me from the very things I detested and feared?

Absolutely nothing.

"We'd better keep going," Bob said, already beginning to walk ahead.

I stood, staring at the golden mud, and I felt a piece of me get left behind as I walked away.

* * *

After a while, my feet felt like Titan mush. I marched along, following Bob, listening to the monotonous slosh of cleaning fluid in his bottle.

_Stay alert_, I told myself, but it didn't seem to make a difference. I was exhausted—and had been ever since I got here—and it was starting to take a toll on me.

My hands had made their way to my forearms and I rubbed up and down, not because it was cold, but in a weak attempt to comfort myself. _I'm gonna get out of here_, I told myself. _It won't be too long now._

But, like me telling myself to stay alert, it was useless.

I thought about Rachel, wondering if she got my message and if she could somehow carry through with the plan I had outlined on it. Maybe she could.

_The chances are slim to none and you know it. You have only put her in danger. Even if she finds the Romans, why would Reyna trust you after everything that has happened?_

I shrugged it off. As much as emotions could be deadly in Tartarus, _hope_ might be my only way out of here. _Hope_ kept me from giving up.

Hope _is what made you convince Bob to kill his brother_, the voice hissed. _How will you be able to live yourself after that? What good would have hope done you? Even if you do get out, you'll be enveloped in guilt, living in fear of yourself, and when people realize how evil you are, they'll hate you too._

I only did what I had to do to stay alive.

_Your mother would be ashamed of you. Chiron will turn his back on you. Percy will be disgusted by you._

"Stop," I said, intending a scream when only a whimper had come out.

"Can't stop here," Bob answered, to my surprise. Though, I hadn't been talking to him. "Dangerous."

"Where is _here_?" I asked. "Where are we going?"

"The lady," Bob answered. "Death Mist."

Annoyance stirred within me, but I only took a deep breath. Annoyance wouldn't help anybody—just like sadness and hopelessness. I had to focus on what I did best—think.

"But who is the lady?"

"Naming her?" Bob asked before shaking his head. "Not a good idea."

I had to admit Bob was right. Names had power. Giving monsters power in Tartarus was definitely not a good idea.

"Okay. Can you at least tell me how far we have to go?"

"I do not know," Bob said. I could fear the frown in his voice. "I can only feel it. We wait for the darkness to get darker, then we go sideways."

I wasn't sure if I hoped that he meant literal or metaphorical darkness. At this point, I wasn't sure what was worse.

"Wait," Bob said abruptly as he stopped. I stumbled forward at the sudden cease of movement. "Something moves ahead of us."

My hand tightened around my obsidian dagger.

I heard a deep thrumming noise, like the idling engine of a large construction vehicle. I could hear the vibrations through my shoes.

Slowly, the humming got louder and louder, shaking the gravel at my feet. The noice seemed to be coming from immediately in front of them then suddenly—

"Meow."

I could see a tiny calico kitten tilt its head at Bob and I, and despite the warnings in my head, I crouched down to pet it.

Though, it seemed to like Bob more than me.

The kitten butted its head against Bob's leg and purred loudly, causing the gravel to shake again. Bob knelt down and scooped the kitten into his arms.

Looking at the Titan and the kitten, the sinking feeling in my heart returned. Tartarus was cold and cruel in itself—swallowing kittens and titans and monsters and demigods with no discrimination.

_Arguably, the lack of discrimination would make it the fairest place in the universe._

Suddenly, the cat's fur shimmered, and for a brief moment it seemed to be an X-ray of a cat instead of an actual cat before it returned to its form. Something about it seemed familiar to me—perhaps I had heard of it before—but I couldn't remember now.

Bob and the kitten snuggled, and I went against my judgement to let Bob keep the kitten. It was clear that they had bonded, and I didn't want to get on Bob's bad side.

Besides, cats reduce stress and anxiety, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to have around.

"I will call him Small Bob," Bob declared. "He is a good monster."

I hummed when I meant to chuckle and smile.

"We should keep going," I said.

And we marched onward.


	15. Chapter 14

**Sorry guys, college is intense! I'm trying really hard, I promise!**

**Tell me what you think! - N x**

* * *

**ANNABETH**

The more we walked, the harder it was to ignore the rumbling in my stomach. It ached and groaned, hoping for more food. My mouth echoed this groan whenever my brain had drifted off into thoughts about pizza, flooding with enzymes that wanted to break apart nothing.

To keep myself distracted, I tried to focus on Small Bob the kitten pacing across Bob's shoulders and purring, occasionally shifting between the x-ray of a kitten and a normal one.

"Here," Bob said, stopping so abruptly I nearly fell over my own feet. He looked to our left, deep in thought.

"Is this the place?" I asked, part of me already knowing the answer. "Where we go sideways?"

"Yes," Bob answered. "Darker, then sideways."

I didn't like the sound of _darker_. It was already dark enough. Though, I couldn't tell if it was actually getting darker. The air got colder and thicker—kind of like the way in does in San Francisco.

_Maybe that's why the Titans built their palace on Mount Tamalpais_, she thought. _It reminded them of home_.

Home.

I was trying not to think about home too much.

Bob struck off to the left and I followed in suit.

We entered some kind of forest. Black trees towered over us, perfectly round and bare of branches. Just like black wands that someone put in the ground. Being in Tartarus was difficult enough, but the darkness only made me more uneasy than I already was.

Then it hit me.

A feeling of sheer and pure panic, making it feel like darts were being thrown at my back and piercing through my skin.

"We're stopping?" Bob asked. I hadn't even realized I stopped.

The panicky feeling seemed to almost hover over me now, slowly crawling up from my back, to my neck, to the base of my skull and higher and higher.

"Something's moving above us," I whispered.

At first, nothing happened. I had almost just shrugged it off—maybe Tartarus was just getting to me more than usual here—but then the first monster dropped to the ground only five feet away.

_Furies_.

The creature almost looked exactly like one. Batlike wings, brass talons, and growing red eyes. This one wore a tattered black silk dress, and her face so twisted and… _ravenous_. She was hungry, and Bob and I seemed like a buffet.

But then more fell, and then another and another. Soon there were half a dozen around us and more in the trees around us.

_Not Furies_.

"What are you?" I demanded, glass dagger in hand.

_The _arai, hissed a voice, causing me to turn. _The curses!_

As if that weren't disconcerting enough, the demons hadn't moved at all. They looked almost like wax statues or dolls. For something so demonic, so sinister, they seemed almost… apathetic.

I gulped. "What do you want?"

The voice cackled, sending shivers down my spine. _To curse you, of course! To destroy you a thousand times in the name of Mother Night!_

And in me, something shifted.

I don't know how to explain it, but the panic in me had almost dissipated instantly, and my heart steadied its beat. I felt grounded to the floor, and my breath deep and ready. I had never felt this kind of calm—it was unnerving.

It was almost like I had panicked so much, my limbic system had switched off, and all there was was rationality.

And I was ready to fight.

"Don't touch them," I told Bob. "They're the spirits of curses."

"Bob doesn't like curses."

My eyes stayed locked on the _arai_, trying to formulate some sort of battle plan. It was going to be difficult—I had a very short-ranged weapon. I doubted I could get past them without touching them at least once.

Bob swept his broom in a wide arc, sending them back a little, but—as I expected—they only just returned to their original positions. They weren't afraid of destruction—as they said—they can't be destroyed.

Well, that's what we know, anyways.

_We serve the bitter and the defeated, _said the arai._ We serve the slain who prayed for vengeance with their final breath. We have many curses to share with you._

"I have no doubt about that," I said, remembering all the enemies I had slain on my own, with Luke and Thalia, with Percy.

One of the _arai_ came toward me and I dodged. In a snap judgement, I threw my dagger at it and it dissolved in a cloud of golden dust.

And then darkness.

Pure darkness.

It was almost worse than Tartarus itself—at least when I had my eyes open, I knew my immediate surroundings, but this—

"I can't see," I whispered to myself.

_Polyphemus cursed you when you tricked him with your invisibility in the Sea of Monsters. You called yourself Nobody. He could not see you. Now you will not see _your_ attackers_, cackled the Arai.

"Sweep!" Bob's towering voice yelled, and I heard thumps and the sound of his broom brushing the ground.

"Bob?!" I called. "Are you okay?!"

_No curses for the Titan_, the _arai_ explained. _Why should we torture him further? Your friend, Percy Jackson, already destroyed his memory_.

I could feel my eyes widen as my heart skipped a beat.

"Bob, listen to me—"

"It was Percy?" Bob asked, his voice cracking.

"Bob, I can explain. Percy didn't want to be your enemy and yours his! He wanted to be your friend!" The words leapt out of my mouth in a frenzy. I was saying anything I could to make him stay—I couldn't fight like this.

_By stealing your life, _the _arai_ said. _Leaving you in the palace of Hades to scrub floors!_

"Bob, there was no other place you could go!" I told him. "And he was heartbroken, so heartbroken to leave you! He always talked about you!"

"He… talked about me?" Bob asked.

"Yes!" I screamed, resisting the urge to throw up.

I was lying. I was lying. I was lying. I was lying. I was lying. I was lying. I was lying.

Nothing I was saying I was true. I was building up this fantasy for Bob just so he wouldn't leave me—just so I'd live. Percy talked about him maybe once or twice. He could have brought him to camp.

_But did he ever visited after he stole your memory?_ The _arai_ asked.

"He couldn't!" I answered back. "It's very dangerous for demigods to go into the Underworld and get out alive. Bob, he's your friend! I'm your friend!"

_Look at her! She doesn't even know you! She can barely convince you!_ The _arai_ answered.

This fight was against me and them—and for once, I felt like the bad guy. I almost rooted for them. They were at least being honest. They were just doing what they were told like—

Like me?

"But the other one would visit," Bob said.

_The other one?_

"Nico?" I asked, hopeful. "Nico's our friend! Percy would ask him to visit and ask him how you were doing!"

That wasn't true. That wasn't true. That wasn't true.

"Nico visited. Told me about Percy. Said Percy was good. Said he was a friend. _That _is why Bob helped," Bob said. My heart sank.

"Bob, please," I pleaded. "Please, Bob, don't do this. I'm Percy's friend and he asked about you, I promise. He did, all the time. Bob, please. _Don't let me die here_."

The _arai_ attacked, and this time, I thought I was done for—that I'd die of thousands of curses, in writhing pain, alone.

And then Bob stopped them.


End file.
